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Effects of seasonal and pandemic influenza on health‐related quality of life, work and school absence in England: Results from the Flu Watch cohort study

Fragaszy, EB; Warren-Gash, C; White, PJ; Zambon, M; Edmunds, WJ; Nguyen-Van-Tam, JS; Hayward, AC; (2018) Effects of seasonal and pandemic influenza on health‐related quality of life, work and school absence in England: Results from the Flu Watch cohort study. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses , 12 (1) pp. 171-182. 10.1111/irv.12506. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Estimates of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and work/school absences for influenza are typically based on medically-attended cases or those meeting influenza-like-illness (ILI) case definitions, and thus biased towards severe disease. Although community influenza cases are more common, estimates of their effects on HRQoL and absences are limited. OBJECTIVES: To measure Quality-Adjusted Life Days and Years (QALDs and QALYs) lost and work/school absences among community cases of acute respiratory infections (ARI), ILI and influenza A and B and to estimate community burden of QALY loss and absences from influenza. PATIENTS/ METHODS: Flu Watch was a community cohort in England from 2006-2011. Participants were followed-up weekly. During respiratory illness they prospectively recorded daily symptoms, work/school absences and EQ-5D-3L data and submitted nasal swabs for RT-PCR influenza testing. RESULTS: Average QALD lost was 0.26, 0.93, 1.61 and 1.84 for ARI, ILI, H1N1pdm09 and influenza B cases respectively. 40% of influenza A cases and 24% of influenza B cases took time off work/school with an average duration of 3.6 days and 2.4 days respectively. In England, community influenza cases lost 24,300 QALYs in 2010/11 and had an estimated 2.9 million absences per season based on data from 2006/07 - 2009/10. CONCLUSIONS: Our QALDs and QALYs lost and work and school absence estimates are lower than previous estimates because we focus on community cases, most of which are mild, may not meet ILI definitions and do not result in healthcare consultations. Nevertheless, they contribute a substantial loss of HRQoL on a population level. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Type: Article
Title: Effects of seasonal and pandemic influenza on health‐related quality of life, work and school absence in England: Results from the Flu Watch cohort study
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1111/irv.12506
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/irv.12506
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 9http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: Cohort Studies, Costs and Cost Analysis, EQ-5D, Human, Influenza, Quality of Life, Respiratory Tract Infections, Work and school absences
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Primary Care and Population Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Health Informatics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10030528
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