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For the first time, nearly 10,000 elderly people across four cities — Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata — will be surveyed for influenza and respiratory virus infections.
Globally, the elderly population carries a “high burden” of influenza infections. But in India, there is a paucity of data on its prevalence among the elderly and the study is part of efforts to address this.
Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) are the third most common cause of death across ages. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that influenza infections result in 3-5 million cases of severe illness and 2.5-5 lakh deaths annually.
The survey is being undertaken by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and institutes like the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) in Chennai and National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) in Kolkata will participate in the study.
It will be funded under INSPIRE (Indian Network of Population-based Platform for Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses among Elderly), an outreach programme of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta.
Dr Atanu Basu, one of the study’s principal investigators from NIV, told The Indian Express that this was the first time a well-defined population of elderly people across multiple study sites in India would be surveyed for influenza and respiratory virus infections. “This study is focused more on community prevalence aspects. Phase 1 of the study that was aimed at developing the community sites has been completed and the study is moving to phase 2 that is more analytical,” Dr Basu said.
Real time data collection, continuous analysis through centralised platforms as well as genetic characterisation of isolated virus will enable researchers better understand the population at risk, co-morbid conditions for severe disease, nature of prevalent strains and disease pattern. “The study data can also be extrapolated for future disease ‘burden’, ‘modelling’ its spread and to better define intervention measures, specially vaccination,” said Dr Mandeep Chadha, consultant to the study at NIV.
As part of the survey, data on daily activities, nutrition and tobacco use, among others, will be assessed. Data will also be obtained about any overnight hospitalisation due to acute illness in the last 12 months, its approximate date, duration of hospitalisation and name and address of the facility visited. The data will help inform public health officials about influenza activity during seasonal epidemics and pandemics and for tracking other acute respiratory infections (ARIs), which can also be associated with serious diseases.