Table 1.
Collateral benefits on national severe influenza, invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease and the death toll from pneumonia while fighting COVID-19 from January 2020 in Taiwan, evidenced by significant slope difference compared to previous influenza seasons (25 weeks, from November to April of the following years).
| Influenza seasons | 2016/2017 | 2017/2018 | 2018/2019 | 2019/2020 | p-valuea |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Severe influenza | |||||
| Mean (n/week) ± SD | 13.96 ± 6.50 | 28.28 ± 21.87 | 34.60 ± 20.93 | 33.80 ± 34.02 | 0.007 |
| Theil-Sen trend (slope, 90% C.I.) | −0.50 (−0.81, −0.19) | 1.03 (0.02, 2.03) | 1.00 (0.16, 1.84) | −1.53 (−2.49, −0.57) | |
| Slope difference, p-value | 1.03, 0.093 | 2.56, 0.003 | 2.53, 0.001 | Reference | |
| Invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease | |||||
| Mean (n/week) ± SD | 12.16 ± 3.95 | 10.68 ± 5.65 | 9.72 ± 3.92 | 8.68 ± 5.16 | 0.069 |
| Theil-Sen trend (slope, 90% C.I.) | −0.17 (−0.37, 0.02) | 0.19 (−0.04, 0.42) | 0.06 (−0.08, 0.20) | −0.41 (−0.62, −0.20) | |
| Slope difference, p-value | 0.24, 0.169 | 0.60, 0.001 | 0.47, 0.002 | Reference | |
| Death toll from pneumonia | |||||
| Mean (n/week) ± SD | 402.29 ± 36.08 | 454.04 ± 70.35 | 442 .00 ± 49.96 | 457.63 ± 48.54 | 0.001 |
| Theil-Sen trend (slope, 90% C.I.) | 1.33 (−1.27, 3.92) | 6.06 (2.87, 9.24) | 4.22 (1.95, 6.49) | −1.19 (−3.82, 1.43) | |
| Slope difference, p-value | 2.52, 0.262 | 7.25, 0.004 | 5.41, 0.010 | Reference | |
a
By using one-way ANOVA; SD, standard deviation; C.I., confidence interval.