ArticleInfection2021
COVID-19 is not "just another flu": a real-life comparison of severe COVID-19 and influenza in hospitalized patients in Vienna, Austria.
Article in Infection, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global geographic and socioeconomic disparities in COVID-associated acute kidney injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2025Pooled it
- Differences in clinical characteristics between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and influenza: a systematic review and meta-analysis.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Acute kidney injury in patients with COVID-19 compared to those with influenza: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Influenza A vs. COVID-19: A Retrospective Comparison of Hospitalized Patients in a Post-Pandemic Setting.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Short- and long-term outcomes following COVID-19 or Influenza hospitalization in adults: results of the AUTCOV study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Can Haematological Parameters Discriminate COVID-19 from Influenza?Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Characterizing deaths among adult patients with severe acute respiratory infection: during the pre- and COVID-19 pandemic periods in Bangladesh, 2018-2022.Tropical medicine and health · 2023Article
- Case-fatality rates and risk of death from COVID-19 and influenza A/H3N2 in Brazil: A nationwide ecological study.Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiologia clinica · 2023Article
- Case-fatality rates and risk of death from COVID-19 and influenza A/H3N2 in Brazil: A nationwide ecological study.Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiologia clinica (English ed.) · 2023Article
- Modulating Immune Response in Viral Infection for Quantitative Forecasts of Drug Efficacy.Pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- Preparedness and management during the first phase of the COVID-19 outbreak - a survey among emergency primary care services in Norway.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Comparison of hospitalized patients with severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and influenza A (H7N9 and H1N1): A retrospective study from a designated hospital.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
16 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCOVID-19 is regularly compared to influenza. Mortality and case-fatality rates vary widely depending on incidence of COVID-19 and the testing policy in affected countries. To date, data comparing hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and influenza is scarce.
methodsData from patients with COVID-19 were compared to patients infected with influenza A (InfA) and B (InfB) virus during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons. All patients were ≥ 18 years old, had PCR-confirmed infection and needed hospital treatment. Demographic data, medical history, length-of-stay (LOS), complications including in-hospital mortality were analyzed.
resultsIn total, 142 patients with COVID-19 were compared to 266 patients with InfA and 300 with InfB. Differences in median age (COVID-19 70.5 years vs InfA 70 years and InfB 77 years, p < 0.001) and laboratory results were observed. COVID-19 patients had fewer comorbidities, but complications (respiratory insufficiency, pneumonia, acute kidney injury, acute heart failure and death) occurred more frequently. Median length-of-stay (LOS) was longer in COVID-19 patients (12 days vs InfA 7 days vs. InfB 7 days, p < 0.001). There was a fourfold higher in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients (23.2%) when compared with InfA (5.6%) or InfB (4.7%; p < 0.001).
conclusionIn hospitalized patients, COVID-19 is associated with longer LOS, a higher number of complications and higher in-hospital mortality compared to influenza, even in a population with fewer co-morbidities. This data, a high reproduction number and limited treatment options, alongside excess mortality during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, support the containment strategies implemented by most authorities.
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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.