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Abstract

Background

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease has frequently been compared with seasonal influenza, but this comparison is based on little empirical data.

Aim

This study compares in-hospital outcomes for patients with community-acquired COVID-19 and patients with community-acquired influenza in Switzerland.

Methods

This retrospective multi-centre cohort study includes patients > 18 years admitted for COVID-19 or influenza A/B infection determined by RT-PCR. Primary and secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and intensive care unit (ICU) admission for patients with COVID-19 or influenza. We used Cox regression (cause-specific and Fine-Gray subdistribution hazard models) to account for time-dependency and competing events with inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounders.

Results

In 2020, 2,843 patients with COVID-19 from 14 centres were included. Between 2018 and 2020, 1,381 patients with influenza from seven centres were included; 1,722 (61%) of the patients with COVID-19 and 666 (48%) of the patients with influenza were male (p < 0.001). The patients with COVID-19 were younger (median 67 years; interquartile range (IQR): 54–78) than the patients with influenza (median 74 years; IQR: 61–84) (p < 0.001). A larger percentage of patients with COVID-19 (12.8%) than patients with influenza (4.4%) died in hospital (p < 0.001). The final adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio for mortality was 3.01 (95% CI: 2.22–4.09; p < 0.001) for COVID-19 compared with influenza and 2.44 (95% CI: 2.00–3.00, p < 0.001) for ICU admission.

Conclusion

Community-acquired COVID-19 was associated with worse outcomes compared with community-acquired influenza, as the hazards of ICU admission and in-hospital death were about two-fold to three-fold higher.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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2022-01-06
2024-12-26
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Hospital outcomes of community-acquired COVID-19 versus influenza: Insights from the Swiss hospital-based surveillance of influenza and COVID-19
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Georg+Marcus+Fr%C3%B6hlich&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Fröhlich Georg Marcus</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Marlieke+E.+A.+De+Kraker&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">De Kraker Marlieke E. A.</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Mohamed+Abbas&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Abbas Mohamed</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Olivia+Keiser&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Keiser Olivia</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Amaury+Thiabaud&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Thiabaud Amaury</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Maroussia+Roelens&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Roelens Maroussia</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Alexia+Cusini&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Cusini Alexia</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Domenica+Flury&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Flury Domenica</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Peter+W.+Schreiber&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Schreiber Peter W.</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Michael+Buettcher&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Buettcher Michael</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Natascia+Corti&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Corti Natascia</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Danielle+Vuichard-Gysin&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Vuichard-Gysin Danielle</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Nicolas+Troillet&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Troillet Nicolas</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Julien+Sauser&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Sauser Julien</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Roman+Gaudenz&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Gaudenz Roman</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Lauro+Damonti&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Damonti Lauro</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Carlo+Balmelli&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Balmelli Carlo</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Anne+Iten&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Iten Anne</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Andreas+Widmer&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Widmer Andreas</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Stephan+Harbarth&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Harbarth Stephan</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Rami+Sommerstein&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Sommerstein Rami</a></span>. Hospital outcomes of community-acquired COVID-19 versus influenza: Insights from the Swiss hospital-based surveillance of influenza and COVID-19. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2022;27(1):pii=2001848. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.1.2001848" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.1.2001848</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 23 Oct 2020;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 06 Sept 2021 </span> </p>
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