Indigenous people more likely to be hospitalized with influenza: study – CTV
April 17, 2023
Indigenous groups are disproportionately impacted by influenza in numerous countries worldwide, including Canada, according to the first study to measure this issue on such a wide scale.
The study, published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, found Indigenous people in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia were three to six times more likely to be hospitalized for influenza than non-Indigenous people in those countries.
In Canada, New Zealand and Australia, Indigenous people were more than five times as likely to be hospitalized with influenza.
“It is critical that governments ensure that people who have the flu have equitable access to healthcare and that vaccination rates are as high as possible,” Dr. Katherine Gibney, an epidemiologist at the Doherty Institute and Royal Melbourne Hospital as well as senior author of the study, said in a press release.
