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Epidemiology and Infection

Table of Contents - 2006 - Volume 134, Issue 06  


Interactions of viral pathogens on hospital admissions for pneumonia, croup and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases: results of a multivariate time-series analysis

R. E. G. UPSHUR a1a2a3a4c1, R. MOINEDDIN a2a3, E. J. CRIGHTON a1 and M. MAMDANI a4a5a6
a1 Primary Care Research Unit, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
a2 Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
a3 Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
a4 Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada
a5 Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
a6 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Article author query
upshur re   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
moineddin r   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
crighton ej   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
mamdani m   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

Co-circulation of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza has made the partitioning of morbidity and mortality from each virus difficult. Given the interaction between chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and pneumonia, often one can be mistaken for the other. Multivariate time-series methodology was applied to examine the impact of RSV and influenza on hospital admissions for bronchiolitis, pneumonia, and COPD. The Granger Causality Test, used to determine the causal relationship among series, showed that COPD and pneumonia are not influenced by RSV (P=0·2999 and 0·7725), but RSV does influence bronchiolitis (P=0·0001). Influenza was found to influence COPD, pneumonia, and bronchiolitis (P<0·0001). The use of multivariate time series and Granger causality applied to epidemiological data clearly illustrates the significant contribution of influenza and RSV to morbidity in the population.

(Accepted February 21 2006)
(Published Online April 20 2006)


Correspondence:
c1 Primary Care Research Unit, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, #E-349, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4N 3M5. (Email: ross.upshur@sw.ca)

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