- Overall, the rate of hospitalizations associated with respiratory viruses decreased throughout September 2024 and into the first week of October.
- For infants and children aged 0-4 years old, respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations increased slightly by 2.9% throughout September 2024. This rise was primarily driven by increases in parainfluenza-associated hospitalizations (+242.9%) and RSV-associated hospitalizations (+177.6%).
- The population aged 65 and over saw a decrease of 34.0% in hospitalizations associated with respiratory viruses throughout September 2024.
Few sources regularly monitor hospitalizations associated with respiratory viruses. Truveta Research has created a monthly respiratory virus monitoring report to supplement the surveillance data provided by the CDC by describing weekly trends in the rate of hospitalizations overall and for each of the six most common respiratory viruses: COVID-19, influenza, human metapneumovirus (HMPV), parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and rhinovirus. This information can inform decisions about public health, clinical care, and public policy.
Because Truveta Data provides the most complete, timely, and clean de-identified EHR data, including full patient medical records, notes, and images, linked with claims, SDOH, and mortality data for more than 100 million patients across the US, we can show the latest trends in these respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations, including valuable insight into two at-risk populations: infants and children (age 0-4 years old) and older adults (age 65 and over).
This blog provides a snapshot of the key findings with data through October 13, 2024 in the report specific to the overall population across all respiratory viruses, as well as for two high-risk populations: infants and children (age 0-4 years old) and older adults (age 65 and older). For the full analysis – inclusive of demographics, comorbidities, and overall trends in virus-associated hospitalizations across all age groups for each virus – see the complete monitoring report with data through September 2024 on MedRxiv.
Key findings: Trends in respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations
Using a subset of Truveta Data, we identified 748,659 hospitalizations of 692,435 unique patients who tested positive for a respiratory virus between October 01, 2019 and October 13, 2024.
Overall population trends
Overall, the rate of hospitalizations associated with respiratory viruses decreased throughout September 2024. There was a 27.9% decrease in the rate of hospitalizations from the first week in September to the first week of October. In the first week of October 2024, respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations accounted for 2.0% of all hospitalizations.
Specifically, COVID-associated hospitalizations saw a notable decrease of 46.1%, while influenza-associated hospitalizations remained stable. However, parainfluenza virus- (+132.6%), RSV- (+149.9%), and rhinovirus-associated (+22.8%) hospitalizations increased.
Infants and children (age 0-4)
For infants and children aged 0-4 years old, respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations increased slightly by 2.9% throughout September 2024. While COVID-associated hospitalizations decreased (-14.3%), parainfluenza-associated hospitalizations increased drastically (+242.9%), and RSV-associated hospitalizations also increased (+177.6%).
In the first week of October, 2.8% of all hospitalizations in this age group were associated with a respiratory virus, with rhinovirus being the largest contributor at 2.1%.
Older adults (age 65 and over)
The population aged 65 and over saw a decrease of 34.0% in hospitalizations associated with respiratory viruses in throughout September 2024.
COVID-associated hospitalizations decreased by 46.4%, while influenza-associated hospitalizations remained stable.
In the first week of October, respiratory virus-associated hospitalizations accounted for 2.4% of all hospitalizations in this age group, with rhinovirus being a notable contributor (0.6%).
Discussion
It is important for public health experts and clinical providers to understand the trends in these infections to inform decisions about public health, clinical care, and public policy. Connecting population-level trends with granular clinical information available in Truveta Studio can be very useful to understand which populations are most impacted and may require additional support.
We will continue to monitor respiratory virus-associated hospitalization overall and for at-risk populations throughout this 2024-2025 respiratory virus season (October 2024 through September 2025).