How did CDC estimate that an average of 36,000 people die in the U.S. each year from seasonal flu?

---

By: Admin on 2009-09-24
www.cdc.gov

This statistic came from a 2003 JAMA study by CDC scientists. The study used statistical modeling to estimate that during 9 influenza seasons from 1990-91 through 1998-99, an annual average of 36,000 flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death on their death certificate was listed as a respiratory or circulatory disease. A 2009 study that appeared in the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses made a similar estimate for the 10 influenza seasons from 1993 to 2003.

---