Influenza-Associated Mortality Among Children in Canada from 2004 to 2022

Jennifer Tam; Jacqueline Modler; Julie A Bettinger; Catherine Burton; Scott A Halperin; Taj Jadavji; Kescha Kazmi; Manish Sadarangani; Tilmann Schober; Dat Tran; Shaun K Morris; Jesse Papenburg; Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program Active (IMPACT) Investigators

doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2025.114594

Influenza-Associated Mortality Among Children in Canada from 2004 to 2022

J Pediatr. 2025 Apr 17:282:114594. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2025.114594. Online ahead of print.

Collaborators

Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program Active (IMPACT) Investigators:
Natalie Bridger, Scott A Halperin, Jeannette Comeau, Roseline Thibeault, Jesse Papenburg, Marc Lebel, Nicole Le Saux, Shaun K Morris, Jared Bullard, Rupeena Purewal, Taj Jadavji, Catherine Burton, Karina Top, Julie A Bettinger, Laura Sauvé, Manish Sadarangani

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada.
² Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, School of Population and Global Health, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
³ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, BC, Canada; Vaccine Evaluation Center, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics, Stollery Children's Hospital, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁵ Canadian Center for Vaccinology, IWK Health Center, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
⁶ Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics, Alberta Children's Hospital, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁷ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Paediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁸ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.
⁹ Healthcare-Associated Infections Program, Acute and Communicable Disease and Prevention Section, Public Health Division, Oregon Health Authority, Portland, OR.
¹⁰ Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, School of Population and Global Health, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada; Division of Microbiology, Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: jesse.papenburg@mcgill.ca.

PMID: 40252962
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2025.114594

Abstract

We identified 80 pediatric influenza-associated deaths in Canadian pediatric tertiary hospitals from 2004 to 2022. Children aged <5 years and with high-risk conditions represented 55% and 77.5% of cases, respectively. Only 24.5% of age-eligible hospitalized cases with known vaccination status had been immunized against influenza that season. Vaccination efforts should be enhanced to reduce influenza mortality.

Keywords: Canada; active surveillance; influenza; mortality; pediatric.