An interesting study was released today, looking at 58 children admitted to Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital between May and July 2009 with severe H1N1, compared with 200 kids admitted for seasonal flu between 2004 and 2009. Details in this article here. Here’s the things that stood out to me:

Every year, Sick Kids admits about 40 children with seasonal flu. With 58 admitted for H1N1 to the end of July, this number will be far higher this year with H1N1, as the second wave numbers (ongoing right now) which are higher than July’s are not included.

22% of kids admitted with H1N1 had asthma, whereas only 6% of kids admitted with seasonal flu had asthma.

Almost half of all ICU admissions at Sick Kids for kids with H1N1 were kids with asthma, and it didn’t matter how severe the asthma was. Even children who only occasionally needed to use their puffers were among the admitted.

There were no deaths among the 58 H1N1 kids, and 1 death among the 200 children admitted with seasonal flu. So while asthmatic children are admitted more often, they also recover more easily than do more elderly folks with underlying conditions like asthma once medical care is received.