Children with asthma are more likely to develop severe cases of H1N1 flu than seasonal flu.
It is well established that anyone with asthma has a higher risk for flu-related complications, such as pneumonia. However, limited data is available on asthma prevalence among children who have required hospital admission due to H1N1 flu.
To look into this association, researchers compared medical data on 58 children admitted to the a Toronto hospital with H1N1 flu, from between May 8 toand July 22 this year and data on 200 children who were admitted for seasonal flu from 2004 to 2009.
It was found that of the children treated for H1N1 flu, 22 percent had asthma, but just 6 percent of those treated for seasonal flu had asthma. Also, almost half of the children admitted to the intensive care unit to be treated for treatment of H1N1 flu had asthma.
The prevalence of asthma emerged as the most striking difference between the two groups of children. Children with H1N1 flu were older. But children with both kinds of flu spent about the same amount of time in the hospital: four days. None of the children with H1N1 flu died; though one child with seasonal flu died. The prevalence of asthma emerged as the most striking difference between the two groups of children.