Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26908781›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of infectious diseases2016

Global Mortality Impact of the 1957-1959 Influenza Pandemic.

Cécile Viboud, Lone Simonsen, Rodrigo Fuentes, Jose Flores, Mark A Miller, Gerardo Chowell

Abstract readHistorical Article
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
103citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

103 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Update on Influenza.The American journal of the medical sciences · 2026
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43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Cécile ViboudDivision of International Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Lone SimonsenDivision of International Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland Department of Global Health, George Washington University, Washington D.C. Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Rodrigo FuentesDepartment of Epidemiology, Ministerio de Salud, and.
Jose FloresDepartment of Mathematical Sciences, University of South Dakota, Vermillion Biodiversity Laboratories, National Center for the Environment, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Mark A MillerDivision of International Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Gerardo ChowellDivision of International Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland School of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundQuantitative estimates of the global burden of the 1957 influenza pandemic are lacking. Here we fill this gap by modeling historical mortality statistics.

methodsWe used annual rates of age- and cause-specific deaths to estimate pandemic-related mortality in excess of background levels in 39 countries in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Americas. We modeled the relationship between excess mortality and development indicators to extrapolate the global burden of the pandemic.

resultsThe pandemic-associated excess respiratory mortality rate was 1.9/10,000 population (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-2.6 cases/10,000 population) on average during 1957-1959. Excess mortality rates varied 70-fold across countries; Europe and Latin America experienced the lowest and highest rates, respectively. Excess mortality was delayed by 1-2 years in 18 countries (46%). Increases in the mortality rate relative to baseline were greatest in school-aged children and young adults, with no evidence that elderly population was spared from excess mortality. Development indicators were moderate predictors of excess mortality, explaining 35%-77% of the variance. Overall, we attribute 1.1 million excess deaths (95% CI, .7 million-1.5 million excess deaths) globally to the 1957-1959 pandemic.

conclusionsThe global mortality rate of the 1957-1959 influenza pandemic was moderate relative to that of the 1918 pandemic but was approximately 10-fold greater than that of the 2009 pandemic. The impact of the pandemic on mortality was delayed in several countries, pointing to a window of opportunity for vaccination in a future pandemic.

Indexed as

Influenza A Virus, H2N2 SubtypeAdolescentAdultChildChild, PreschoolGlobal HealthHistory, 20th CenturyHumansInfantInfluenza, HumanMiddle AgedPandemicsYoung Adultdevelopment indicatorsglobal disease burdenhealth indicatorshistorical studiesmodelsmortality ratespandemic influenzapandemic planningseverityvital statistics

Identifiers

PMID26908781
PMCPMC4747626

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.