Browsing by Author "Mazick, A."
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Excess mortality among the elderly in 12 European countries, February and March 2012Publication . Mazick, A.; Gergonne, B.; Nielsen, J.; Wuillaume, F.; Virtanen, M.J.; Fouillet, A.; Uphoff, H.; Sideroglou, T.; Paldy, A.; Oza, A.; Nunes, Baltazar; Flores-Segovia, V.M.; Junker, C.; McDonald, S.A.; Green, H.K.; Pebody, R.; Mølbak, K.In February and March 2012, excess deaths among the elderly have been observed in 12 European countries that carry out weekly monitoring of all-cause mortality. These preliminary data indicate that the impact of influenza in Europe differs from the recent pandemic and post-pandemic seasons. The current excess mortality among the elderly may be related to the return of influenza A(H3N2) virus, potentially with added effects of a cold snap.
- Excess mortality among the elderly in european countries, December 2014 to February 2015Publication . Mølbak, K.; Espenhain, L.; Nielsen, J.; Tersago, K.; Bossuyt, N.; Denissov, G.; Baburin, A.; Virtanen, M.; Fouillet, A.; Sideroglou, T.; Gkolfinopoulou, K.; Paldy, A.; Bobvos, J.; van Asten, L.; de Lange, M.; Nunes, Baltazar; Silva, Susana Pereira; Larrauri, A.; Gómez, I.L.; Tsoumanis, A.; Junker, C.; Green, H.; Pebody, R.; McMenamin, J.; Reynolds, A.; Mazick, A.Since December 2014 and up to February 2015, the weekly number of excess deaths from all-causes among individuals ≥ 65 years of age in 14 European countries have been significantly higher than in the four previous winter seasons. The rise in unspecified excess mortality coincides with increased proportion of influenza detection in the European influenza surveillance schemes with a main predominance of influenza A(H3N2) viruses seen throughout Europe in the current season, though cold snaps and other respiratory infections may also have had an effect.
- I-Move towards monitoring seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccine effectiveness: lessons learnt from a pilot multi-centric case-control study in europe, 2008-9Publication . Kissling, E.; Valenciano, M.; Falcao, J.; Larrauri, A.; Widgren, K.; Pitigoi, D.; Oroszi, B.; Nunes, Baltazar; Savulescu, C.; Mazick, A.; Lupulescu, E.; Ciancio, B.; Moren, A.Within I-MOVE (European programme to monitor seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE)) five countries conducted IVE pilot case-control studies in 2008-9. One hundred and sixty sentinel general practitioners (GP) swabbed all elderly consulting for influenza-like illness (ILI). Influenza confirmed cases were compared to influenza negative controls. We conducted a pooled analysis to obtain a summary IVE in the age group of >or=65 years. We measured IVE in each study and assessed heterogeneity between studies qualitatively and using the I2 index. We used a one-stage pooled model with study as a fixed effect. We adjusted estimates for age-group, sex, chronic diseases, smoking, functional status, previous influenza vaccinations and previous hospitalisations. The pooled analysis included 138 cases and 189 test-negative controls. There was no statistical heterogeneity (I2=0) between studies but ILI case definition, previous hospitalisations and functional status were slightly different. The adjusted IVE was 59.1% (95% CI: 15.3-80.3%). IVE was 65.4% (95% CI: 15.6-85.8%) in the 65-74, 59.6% (95% CI: -72.6 -90.6%) in the age group of >or=75 and 56.4% (95% CI: -0.2-81.3%) for A(H3). Pooled analysis is feasible among European studies. The variables definitions need further standardisation. Larger sample sizes are needed to achieve greater precision for subgroup analysis. For 2009-10, I-MOVE will extend the study to obtain early IVE estimates in groups targeted for pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccination.
- Pooling European all-cause mortality: methodology and findings for the seasons 2008/2009 to 2010/2011.Publication . Nielsen, J.; Mazick, A.; Andrews, N.; Detsis, M.; Fenech, T.M.; Flores, V.M.; Foulliet, A.; Gergonne, B.; Green, H.K.; Junker, C.; Nunes, Baltazar; O'Donnell, J.; Oza, A.; Paldy, A.; Pebody, R.; Reynolds, A.; Sideroglou, T.; Snijders, B.E.; Simon-Soria, F.; Uphoff, H.; VAN Asten, L.; Virtanen, M.J.; Wuillaume, F.; Mølbak, K.Several European countries have timely all-cause mortality monitoring. However, small changes in mortality may not give rise to signals at the national level. Pooling data across countries may overcome this, particularly if changes in mortality occur simultaneously. Additionally, pooling may increase the power of monitoring populations with small numbers of expected deaths, e.g. younger age groups or fertile women. Finally, pooled analyses may reveal patterns of diseases across Europe. We describe a pooled analysis of all-cause mortality across 16 European countries. Two approaches were explored. In the ‘summarized’ approach, data across countries were summarized and analysed as one overall country. In the ‘stratified’ approach, heterogeneities between countries were taken into account. Pooling using the ‘stratified’ approach was the most appropriate as it reflects variations in mortality. Excess mortality was observed in all winter seasons albeit slightly higher in 2008/09 than 2009/10 and 2010/11. In the 2008/09 season, excess mortality was mainly in elderly adults. In 2009/10, when pandemic influenza A(H1N1) dominated, excess mortality was mainly in children. The 2010/11 season reflected a similar pattern, although increased mortality in children came later. These patterns were less clear in analyses based on data from individual countries. We have demonstrated that with stratified pooling we can combine local mortality monitoring systems and enhance monitoring of mortality across Europe.