No published studies have discussed details of the prognosis and survival of patients with severe avian influenza A(H7N9) infection. In this study we analysed 128 laboratory-confirmed cases of severe H7N9 infection in Zhejiang province, the most affected region during the H7N9 epidemic in mainland China. We found that an increase in patient age by 5 years was associated with a 1.41 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19-1.67] times odds ratio for fatality. In addition, the time interval between the first clinical visit after symptom onset and hospital admission was inversely associated with survival time since admission. Of the 47 patients who died of the disease, when the time interval between the first clinical visit and hospital admission increased by 1 day, the duration of survival was 0.78 times (95% CI 0.62-0.98) as long. Our results suggest that patients with severe influenza H7N9 infection at older ages were at a higher risk of fatality, and that a delay in hospital admission was associated with more rapid death. More studies are required to corroborate our major findings.
Keywords: Avian influenza A (H7N9); prognosis; survival.