rsv targets the lungs and breathing passages. older adults are at high risk for severe disease in part because of age-related decline in immunity. underlying conditions can be aggravated, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or copd, asthma, and congestive heart failure.
while the majority of those hospitalized for rsv are children, especially in their first year of life, most recover, he says. “if you actually look at who dies of rsv, kids, for example, they make up in ontario about 70 per cent of the hospitalizations for rsv, they make up less than five per cent of the deaths, thankfully, not many children die.”
older adults make up 20 per cent of those hospitalized for rsv during a given year, but they make up 85 per cent of deaths, he explains. “if you look at ontario data, if you’re an over 65-year-old hospitalized with rsv, there’s a one in nine chance you don’t walk out of the hospital. it is quite profound.”
the online survey, commissioned by pharmaceutical company gsk, looked at the awareness and attitudes of 1,000 canadians aged 50-plus toward rsv and other respiratory illnesses, and how their lives were affected. almost half, 46 per cent, of had never heard of rsv, although a large majority, 65 per cent, said they’d had a respiratory illness in the previous 12 months.
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