Over five seasons, we determined the proportion of outpatients with laboratory-confirmed, influenza-associated illness who were hospitalized within 30 days following the outpatient visit. Overall, 136 (1.7%) of 7813 influenza-positive patients were hospitalized a median of 4 days after an outpatient visit. Patients aged ≥ 65 years and those with high-risk conditions were at increased risk of hospitalization. After controlling for age and high-risk conditions, vaccination status and infecting influenza virus type were not associated with hospitalization risk among adults.
Keywords: hospitalization; influenza; medically attended acute respiratory illness; outpatients.
Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.