# On the relative role of different age groups during influenza A epidemics in Germany, 2002-2017

## TL;DR

This study analyzes the role of different age groups, especially school-age children, in propagating influenza A epidemics in Germany from 2002 to 2017, highlighting the importance of targeted vaccination strategies.

## Contribution

It introduces a method to quantify the relative role of age groups in influenza spread using case data before and after epidemic peaks, applied to German data over 15 years.

## Key findings

- School-age children, especially 14-17 years, often had the highest relative risk during epidemics.
- Younger children and certain adult groups also played significant roles in specific seasons.
- Vaccination coverage among older children is lower, potentially affecting epidemic dynamics.

## Abstract

Background: There is limited information about the role of different age groups, particularly subgroups of school-age children and younger adults in propagating influenza epidemics. Methods: For a communicable disease outbreak, some subpopulations may play a disproportionate role during the ascent of the outbreak due to increased susceptibility and/or contact rates. Such subpopulations can be identified by considering the proportion that cases in a subpopulation represent among all cases in the population occurring before the epidemic peak (Bp), the corresponding proportion after the epidemic peak (Ap), to calculate the relative risk for a subpopulation, RR=Bp/Ap. We estimated RR for several age groups using data on reported influenza A cases in Germany between 2002-2017. Results: Children aged 14-17y had the highest RR estimates for 7 out of 15 influenza A epidemics in the data, including the 2009 pandemic, and the large 2016/17, 2008/09, and 2006/07 seasons. Children aged 10-13y had the highest RR estimates during 3 epidemics, including the large 2014/15 and 2004/05 seasons. Children aged 6-9y had the highest RR estimates during two epidemics, including the large 2012/13 season. Children aged 2-5y had the highest RR estimate during the moderate 2015/16 season; adults aged 18-24y had the highest RR estimate during the small 2005/06 season; adults aged 25-34y had the highest RR estimate during the large, 2002/03 season. Conclusions: Our results support the prominent role of all school-age children, particularly the oldest ones, in propagating influenza epidemics in the community. We note that national vaccination coverage levels among older school-age children were lower than among younger school-age children during the recent influenza seasons in the US, and influenza vaccination program in England has not been phased in yet for secondary school students.

---
Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1706.03348