[Hospitalization rates for influenza-associated severe acute respiratory illness in children younger than five years old in Suzhou of China, 2016-2018]

We analyzed the influenza surveillance data of Children’s Hospital of Suzhou University from 2016 to 2018 and estimated the hospitalization burden of children under 5 years old due to influenza infection in Suzhou. The results showed that the influenza virus positive rate of 1 451 severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases in Children’s Hospital of Suzhou University was 13.6% (95 %CI : 11.8%-15.3%; 197 cases), among which the influenza pandemic intensity in 2017-2018 was relatively high, and A/H1N1 was the main pandemic virus. It was estimated that the hospitalization rate of influenza-related SARI in children under 5 years old in Suzhou was 6.9‰ (95 %CI : 6.6‰-7.2‰), among which the hospitalization rate of children aged<6 months was higher, up to 11.4‰ (95 %CI : 9.9‰-12.8‰).