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High mortality rate from influenza in Central Zone

Apr 20, 2018 | 12:19 PM

Flu deaths in the Central Zone this season have have risen to 21, the same as in the Edmonton zone.

Only the Calgary Zone has seen more deaths in Alberta this flu season at 30.

To put Central Zone’s numbers into perspective, only 363 central Albertans have been hospitalized due to the flu while in the Edmonton Zone, there have been 1,004, as of April 19.

rdnewsNOW asked AHS Medical Officer of Health Dr. Digby Horne why the mortality rate is so much higher in Central Zone compared to Edmonton.

“Potential factors could be the frequency of testing in the different zones, some zones may for one or another reason test more patients. Then the ages of the patients may not be the same and they could have more or less underlying conditions,” Horne says. 

“There’s also the availability of beds in different places, or you may have different admission criteria where the patient may have to have more or less illness to be admitted in certain places. It’s possible the treatments may be different too.”

Horne says pinpointing the primary reason would be a lengthy research project.

While bed availability could be a factor, he notes that isn’t necessarily due to the crunch at Red Deer Regional Hospital, as there are numerous hospitals in the Central Zone.

Digging deeper, just over 110,000 vaccines have been administered to Central Zone residents, while nearly 406,000 doses were given in the Edmonton Zone. Based off 2014 zone population numbers — the most recent AHS has available — those numbers make for rates of 23.4 per cent and 31.3 per cent, respectively.

Calgary’s rate based off the same numbers would be 33.9 per cent, the North Zone sitting at 19.3 per cent, and the South Zone is at 30.9 per cent.

The provincial rate works out to 30.0 per cent.

There were only 11 flu-related deaths in the Central Zone last year.

Albert has seen 89 flu-related deaths this season.