Influenza as a proportion of pneumonia mortality: United States, 1959-2009.
As causes of death, influenza and pneumonia are typically analyzed together. We quantify influenza's contribution to the combined pneumonia and influenza mortality time series for the United States, 1959-2009. A key statistic is I/(P + I), the proportion of pneumonia and influenza mortality accounted for by influenza. Year-to-year, I/(P + I) is highly variable and shows long-term decline. Extreme values of I/(P + I) are associated with extreme P + I death rates and vice versa, but I/(P + I) is a weak predictor of P + I mortality overall. Prominence of influenza in the medical news is associated with high I/(P + I). Influenza and pneumonia should be analyzed as a combined cause.
a Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention , University of California, Irvine , Irvine , California , USA.
Andrew
A
Noymer
Ann M
AM
Nguyen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000401:mortality*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult