Table 2. Risk factors associated with severe RSV disease in children (< 18 years) and adults, Australia, 2024 (n = 3,998).
| Characteristics | ICU/HDU admission | Length of stay > 7 days | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
| Children | Yes (n = 210) |
No (n = 3,206) |
Yes (n = 433) |
No (n = 2,983) |
(n = 3,416) | |||||
| Age group | ||||||||||
| < 3 months | 64 | 30.5 | 560 | 17.5 | 114 | 26.3 | 510 | 17.1 | 624 | 18.3 |
| 3–5 months | 21 | 10.0 | 323 | 10.1 | 61 | 14.1 | 283 | 9.5 | 344 | 10.1 |
| 6–11 months | 27 | 12.9 | 539 | 16.8 | 75 | 17.3 | 491 | 16.5 | 566 | 16.6 |
| 12–23 months | 36 | 17.1 | 900 | 28.1 | 74 | 17.1 | 862 | 28.9 | 936 | 27.4 |
| 2–4 years | 34 | 16.2 | 645 | 20.1 | 61 | 14.1 | 618 | 20.7 | 679 | 19.9 |
| 5–17 years | 28 | 13.3 | 239 | 7.5 | 48 | 11.1 | 219 | 7.3 | 267 | 7.8 |
| Sex | ||||||||||
| Male | 110 | 52.4 | 1,754 | 54.7 | 225 | 52.0 | 1,639 | 54.9 | 1,864 | 54.6 |
| Female | 100 | 47.6 | 1,439 | 44.9 | 196 | 45.3 | 1,343 | 45.0 | 1,539 | 45.0 |
| Other/not reported | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.4 | 12 | 2.8 | 1 | < 0.1 | 13 | 0.4 |
| Ethnicitya | ||||||||||
| First Nations | 18 | 8.6 | 187 | 5.8 | 30 | 6.9 | 175 | 5.9 | 205 | 6.0 |
| Not First Nations | 192 | 91.4 | 3,019 | 94.2 | 403 | 93.1 | 2,808 | 94.1 | 3,211 | 94.0 |
| Underlying medical conditionsb | ||||||||||
| Yes | 116 | 55.2 | 1,041 | 32.5 | 199 | 46.0 | 958 | 32.1 | 1,157 | 33.9 |
| Preterm birth | 55 | 26.2 | 348 | 10.9 | 53 | 12.2 | 350 | 11.7 | 403 | 11.8 |
| Cardiac disease | 31 | 14.8 | 131 | 4.1 | 42 | 9.7 | 120 | 4.0 | 162 | 4.7 |
| Respiratory disease | 49 | 23.3 | 368 | 11.5 | 66 | 15.2 | 351 | 11.8 | 417 | 12.2 |
| Renal disease | 7 | 3.3 | 50 | 1.6 | 11 | 2.5 | 46 | 1.5 | 57 | 1.7 |
| Neurological disease | 30 | 14.3 | 116 | 3.6 | 41 | 9.5 | 105 | 3.5 | 146 | 4.3 |
| Liver disease | 2 | 1.0 | 13 | 0.4 | 3 | 0.7 | 12 | 0.4 | 15 | 0.4 |
| Malignancy | 1 | 0.5 | 74 | 2.3 | 17 | 3.9 | 58 | 1.9 | 75 | 2.2 |
| Immunosuppression | 4 | 1.9 | 87 | 2.7 | 18 | 4.2 | 73 | 2.4 | 91 | 2.7 |
| Genetic disorder | 30 | 14.3 | 80 | 2.5 | 26 | 6.0 | 84 | 2.8 | 110 | 3.2 |
| Metabolic disorderc | 4 | 1.9 | 8 | 0.2 | 4 | 0.9 | 8 | 0.3 | 12 | 0.4 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 1 | 0.5 | 8 | 0.2 | 2 | 0.5 | 7 | 0.2 | 9 | 0.3 |
| No | 94 | 44.8 | 2,165 | 67.5 | 234 | 54.0 | 2,025 | 67.9 | 2,259 | 66.1 |
| Adults | Yes (n = 55) |
No (n = 527) |
Yes (n = 239) |
No (n = 343) |
(n = 582) | |||||
| Age group | ||||||||||
| 18–59 years | 25 | 45.5 | 137 | 26.0 | 43 | 18.0 | 119 | 34.7 | 162 | 27.8 |
| 60–74 years | 17 | 30.9 | 147 | 27.9 | 76 | 31.8 | 88 | 25.7 | 164 | 28.2 |
| ≥ 75 years | 13 | 23.6 | 243 | 46.1 | 120 | 50.2 | 136 | 39.7 | 256 | 44.0 |
| Sex | ||||||||||
| Male | 28 | 50.9 | 228 | 43.3 | 101 | 42.3 | 155 | 45.2 | 256 | 44.0 |
| Female | 27 | 49.1 | 299 | 56.7 | 138 | 57.7 | 188 | 54.8 | 326 | 56.0 |
| Ethnicitya | ||||||||||
| First Nations | 10 | 18.2 | 53 | 10.1 | 15 | 6.3 | 48 | 14.0 | 63 | 10.8 |
| Not First Nations | 45 | 81.8 | 474 | 89.9 | 224 | 93.7 | 295 | 86.0 | 519 | 89.2 |
| Underlying medical conditionsb | ||||||||||
| Yes | 48 | 87.3 | 456 | 86.5 | 215 | 90.0 | 289 | 84.3 | 504 | 86.6 |
| Cardiac disease | 20 | 36.4 | 198 | 37.6 | 95 | 39.7 | 123 | 35.9 | 218 | 37.5 |
| Respiratory disease | 36 | 65.5 | 196 | 37.2 | 94 | 39.3 | 138 | 40.2 | 232 | 39.9 |
| Renal disease | 7 | 12.7 | 76 | 14.4 | 29 | 12.1 | 54 | 15.7 | 83 | 14.3 |
| Neurological disease | 6 | 10.9 | 86 | 16.3 | 44 | 18.4 | 48 | 14.0 | 92 | 15.8 |
| Liver disease | 2 | 3.6 | 16 | 3.0 | 8 | 3.3 | 10 | 2.9 | 18 | 3.1 |
| Malignancy | 9 | 16.4 | 100 | 19.0 | 61 | 25.5 | 48 | 14.0 | 109 | 18.7 |
| Immunosuppression | 15 | 27.3 | 124 | 23.5 | 65 | 27.2 | 74 | 21.6 | 139 | 23.9 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 30 | 54.5 | 280 | 53.1 | 126 | 52.7 | 184 | 53.6 | 310 | 53.3 |
| Obesity | 5 | 9.1 | 57 | 10.8 | 19 | 7.9 | 43 | 12.5 | 62 | 10.7 |
| No | 7 | 12.7 | 71 | 13.5 | 24 | 10.0 | 54 | 15.7 | 78 | 13.4 |
| Other risk factors | ||||||||||
| Pregnancy | 1 | 1.8 | 7 | 1.3 | 2 | 0.8 | 6 | 1.7 | 8 | 1.4 |
| Current smoker | 13 | 23.6 | 75 | 14.2 | 33 | 13.8 | 55 | 16.0 | 88 | 15.1 |
| Nursing home residence | 0 | 0.0 | 45 | 8.5 | 13 | 5.4 | 32 | 9.3 | 45 | 7.8 |
HDU: high dependency unit; ICU: intensive care unit; RSV: respiratory syncytial virus.
a First Nations status included all Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people based on self-report on medical records.
b Multiple medical conditions reported per patient.
c Excluding diabetes mellitus.