influenza graph

Italy has been one of the worst affected countries when it comes to coronavirus. Every day, media headlines inform us that people are dying of the disease by the thousands in Italy.

However, in the past, scientific studies have found that respiratory-related deaths are unfortunately not a new thing during the influenza season in Italy.

In November 2019, a study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases revealed that in the winter seasons from 2013/14 to 2016/17, an estimated average of 5,290,000 influenza cases occurred in Italy, corresponding to an incidence of 9%.

The study stated: “Over 68,000 deaths were attributable to influenza epidemics in the study period. The observed excess of deaths is not completely unexpected, given the high number of fragile very old subjects living in Italy. In conclusion, the unpredictability of the influenza virus continues to present a major challenge to health professionals and policymakers.”

Italy showed higher influenza attributable to excess mortality compared to other European countries, especially in the elderly.

The study also showed that seasonal influenza epidemics make a substantial contribution to the worldwide annual mortality rate, in particular among elderly individuals aged 65 years and over.

This study was published in 2019 – before the COVID-19 crisis spread to Europe.

According to the analysis, seasonal influenza epidemics make a substantial contribution to the worldwide annual mortality rate, in particular among elderly individuals aged 65 years and over.

In recent years, Italy has been registering peaks in death rates, particularly among the elderly during the winter season. 

A mortality rate of 10.7 per 1,000 inhabitants was observed in the winter season 2014/2015 (more than 375,000 deaths in absolute terms), corresponding to an estimated 54,000 excess deaths (+9.1%) as compared to 2014.

This represented the highest reported mortality rate since the Second World War in Italy.

The peer-review studied the deaths of people from all age groups between 2013-2017. While there was a high number of deaths in the elderly population, there was also a significant number of deaths in children under 5  during the 2014/15 and 2016/17 seasons.

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