Christmas Cheer: Not For Everyone!

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS;  COPD
Article Date: 17 Sep 2007 - 15:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

People with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk of being hospitalised during the Christmas period, according to an international study presented to the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Stockholm.
The main cause appears to be the family get-togethers that characterise this time of year, which facilitate the spread of respiratory viruses that can be dangerous to people with such conditions.

The winter months always bring their fair share of flu and colds. It is well known that these normally minor infections can further reduce lung function in people already suffering from chronic respiratory disease, who may even need to be hospitalised.
Now scientists in the Canadian province of Ontario have discovered that things get even worse at Christmas. It appears that asthmatics and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) sufferers make exceptionally frequent use of emergency medical services during the Christmas holidays.

Neil W. Johnston and his colleagues at the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, McMaster University, Hamilton (in Ontario, Canada), decided to take a closer look at this surprising phenomenon. They based their research on analysis of annual hospitalisation patterns for asthma, COPD and respiratory infections in a range of countries (Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Sweden). Their original study yielded results that are spectacular, to say the least, and which made a major impression at the ERS Congress in Stockholm.

Hospitalisation risk rises by 16-62%

"For adults, especially the elderly, the risk of being hospitalised for COPD increases by 1651% during the Christmas holidays", Johnston reported. "For asthma, the excess risk is 1862%. And the hospitalisation risk for a respiratory infection such as pneumonia goes up by 17-52%."
New Zealand is the only country to escape this trend. Perhaps because Christmas comes in summer in New Zealand…

Hospital admissions for these three lung conditions also increase during respiratory virus epidemics, the Canadian team notes. But the "Christmas epidemics" seem to occur independently of flu virus, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) or parainfluenza virus and adenovirus isolation rates.
"While no particular virus has been associated with the Christmas epidemic", Johnston explains, "it is still probable that the phenomenon is caused by viral infections, transmitted from person to person and particularly from children to adults."

Family get-togethers can be risky

The researchers emphasise that family get-togethers during the Christmas period, with the associated social interaction, provide a perfect opportunity for viruses to spread to vulnerable subjects. And the sharp rises in hospitalisation rates cannot, in their view, be explained purely by the fact that primary medical services are often closed for the holidays.
"So patients at risk of complications if they catch a respiratory virus, such as asthmatics and people with COPD, should prepare carefully for the flu season and the Christmas holidays. They should, for example, make sure that their prescriptions are up to date and that they are prepared to treat an exacerbation, if one occurs", Johnston and his colleagues told the Congress.

European Respiratory Society

• Additional
• References
• Citations