Children and adults under age 25 have accounted for 53% of hospitalizations for laboratory-confirmed H1N1 and 23.6% of related deaths since Sept. 1.
Seniors, on the other hand, have accounted for just 7% of H1N1-confirmed hospitalizations and 11.6% of deaths from the virus based on data from 27 and 28 states, respectively.
“This is really, really different than what we see with seasonal flu,” said Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, who led the briefing.
There are diseases that kill old people and those that disproportionately affect the young. When the young are affected, society loses not just a beautiful young person but also their potential, the years and years of lost productivity:
The quality-adjusted life year (QALY) is a measure of disease burden, including both the quality and the quantity of life lived. It is used in assessing the value for money of a medical intervention. The QALY is based on the number of years of life that would be added by the intervention.