Working-age Adults with Diabetes and the Risk of Seasonal Influenza

Working-age adults with diabetes may be at an increased risk for illness attributed to influenza…. 

Researchers compared the incidence of illness attributable to influenza in adults of working age with and without diabetes. Working age was defined as being less than 65 years old.

Data was attained from Manitoba, Canada where over 99% of residents have universal health insurance. Researchers then identified adults of working age and matched them with non-diabetic controls. The rates of physician visits, hospitalizations, influenza-like illness, influenza and pneumonia hospitalizations, and all-cause hospitalizations were measured.

Using multivariable regression analysis, researchers were able to estimate the rate of each outcome attributable to influenza. Among 166,715 study subjects, the median age was 50.5 years and approximately 50% were female. Researchers found that adults with diabetes had significantly more comorbidities then non-diabetic control subjects. Compared to controls, subjects with diabetes has a 6% greater increase in all-cause mortality associated with influenza (RR 1.06, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.10; absolute risk difference 6 per 1,000 adults per year). No differences were found in influenza-attributable rates of influenza-like illness (p = 0.06) or pneumonia and influenza (p = 0.11).

• Working age adults with diabetes may experience a greater burden of influenza than non-diabetic adults
• Working age adults may strongly benefit from seasonal influenza vaccination

Working-age adults with diabetes experience greater susceptibility to seasonal influenza: a population-based cohort study. Diabetologia. April 2014, Volume 57, Issue 4, pp 690-698