Revised estimates of influenza-associated excess mortality, United States, 1995 through 2005.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Excess mortality due to seasonal influenza is thought to be substantial. However, influenza may often not be recognized as cause of death. Imputation methods are therefore required to assess the public health impact of influenza. The purpose of this study was to obtain estimates of monthly excess mortality due to influenza that are based on an epidemiologically meaningful model.

Methods and results

U.S. monthly all-cause mortality, 1995 through 2005, was hierarchically modeled as Poisson variable with a mean that linearly depends both on seasonal covariates and on influenza-certified mortality. It also allowed for overdispersion to account for extra variation that is not captured by the Poisson error. The coefficient associated with influenza-certified mortality w

SUBMITTER: Foppa IM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2628891 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature