PROVIDENCE – A study co-authored by two Rhode Island Hospital researchers has found that people with low incomes or low levels of education are more likely to become infected with influenza.
The study, published recently in Public Health Reports, focuses on disparities among patients diagnosed with the flu. Its authors, Dr. Leonard Mermel, medical director of epidemiology and infection control at Rhode Island Hospital, and Kori Otero, a recent graduate of the Brown University School of Public Health, found that severe cases of the flu were more common among those with lower levels of education, as well. Conversely, they also found that severe illness from the flu was also associated with higher household income levels.
A higher number of older adults with above-median household income may have contributed to that finding, which researchers called “unexpected.”
Additionally, Mermel said, it may reflect “possible intrinsic bias” that results in the hospitalization of affluent people at higher rates than people with smaller incomes or lower socioeconomic status.
Mermel and Otero analyzed Rhode Island data from the fall of 2013 through the spring of 2018 to determine whether median household income or educational levels could be linked to the likelihood of getting the flu or developing a serious case of it.
For the most part, the findings were unsurprising, Mermel said.
“Our hypothesis was that we would find health disparities related to risk of influenza. This may be due to a lower access to primary care, less time available to receive influenza vaccination, and crowding living conditions,” he said. “This study presaged some of the events occurring today with COVID-19, as health disparities remain a top-of-mind issue in addressing the needs of all Americans.”
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
