Modelling estimates of the burden of Respiratory Syncytial virus infection in adults and the elderly in the United Kingdom.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Growing evidence suggests respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important cause of respiratory disease in adults. However, the adult burden remains largely uncharacterized as most RSV studies focus on children, and population-based studies with laboratory-confirmation of infection are difficult to implement. Indirect modelling methods, long used for influenza, can further our understanding of RSV burden by circumventing some limitations of traditional surveillance studies that rely on direct linkage of individual-level exposure and outcome data.

Methods

Multiple linear time-series regression was used to estimate RSV burden in the United Kingdom (UK) between 1995 and 2009 among the total population and adults in terms of general practice (GP) episodes (counted as

SUBMITTER: Fleming DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4618996 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature