Influenza season 2019. Analysis of 143 hospitalized patients

Influenza infection is a latent public health problem, affecting millions of people throughout the world, which imposes high morbidity and economic burden on the region. In Argentina, influenza-associated mortality is estimated at 6/100 000 person-years, and is higher among men = 65 years old. The knowledge of the baseline characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized patients is crucial for public health officials planning interventions to address local outbreaks. Thus, in this retrospective, single-center study, performed in a highcomplexity university hospital, we aimed to analyze clinical characteristics, image findings, and laboratory variables of patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza requiring hospitalization in our hospital during 2019. Cases were confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. One hundred and forty-three patients with influenza were hospitalized during the study period; 141 (98.6%) were infected with influenza virus type A, including 88 (61.5%) with the H1N1 subtype. The median age was 71 years (IQR 60- 82), 111 (77.6%) were older than 70 years, and 126 (88.1%) had at least one coexisting illness; 56 (39.1%) patients required intensive care unit, 16 (11.1%) invasive mechanical ventilation, and 6 (4.1%) died during hospitalization. In this study, in-hospital mortality was similar to that reported in previous series of non-pandemic influenza, even though the majority of the cases in this study were older than 70 years and had at least one coexisting illness.