H1N1 Has Made Many Young Adult Patients Critically Ill

The 2009 influenza A(H1N1) outbreak has put many young adult patients in intensive care with severe respiratory disease, leading to a high fatality rate, according to three studies published online Oct. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

MONDAY, Oct. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The 2009 influenza A(H1N1) outbreak has put many young adult patients in intensive care with severe respiratory disease, leading to a high fatality rate, according to three studies published online Oct. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Anand Kumar, M.D., of the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, Canada, and colleagues in the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group H1N1 Collaborative studied 168 critically ill patients in 38 Canadian intensive care units and found that critical illness in young adults resulted in the frequent use of rescue therapies to treat severe hypoxemia and multi-system organ failure.

Andrew R. Davies, of Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues found that in a study of 68 patients treated in intensive care for influenza A(H1N1), many patients required mechanical ventilation, while Guillermo Dominguez-Cherit, M.D., of Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion "Salvador Zubiran" in Mexico City, and colleagues report that there was a high case-fatality rate as a result of shock and severe acute respiratory distress syndrome for those critically ill from 2009 influenza A(H1N1).

"Our analysis of critically ill patients with 2009 influenza A(H1N1) reveals that this disease affected a young patient group. There was a relatively long period of illness prior to presentation to the hospital, followed by a short period of acute and severe respiratory deterioration," Dominguez-Cherit and colleagues write. "Within 60 days, 41 percent of critically ill patients had died."

Abstract - Kumar
Full Text
Abstract - Davies
Full Text
Abstract - Dominguez-Cherit
Full Text
Editorial

Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

---

Previous: Drugs for Malaria Prevention in Travelers Compared

Next: Brain Seems to Play Role in Resveratrol's Diabetes Effect

---

Reader comments on this article are listed below. Review our comments policy.

---

Submit your opinion: