More at risk of dying from flu?

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Apparently people with neurological conditions such as autism are more at risk of dying from flu.

Is this true? I ask because i just got a letter from my doctor saying my health condition makes more vulnrable to complications from the flu.

Not heard that before. If it's true then reasons would presumably include Autistic people being more likely to be in poverty or poor health because they're less likely to be in full time employment etc.

You might have some other condition, James, which would put you more at risk for dying from the flu. It might not have anything to do with autism.

Still, it's very unlikely that you would die from the flu. Even most "vulnerable" people don't generally die of the flu unless they're severely immunocompromised.

I have asthma as well

Here we go...

You are funny!

Jamesy. It all depends on anxiety at the time. I mean, if you are stressed then your risk is higher, but if you are happy and content your body is more able to cope with viruses etc.

I was just wondering how long it will be before that question was asked, although I thought COVID was evidently 100x more deadlier than flu.

Even if there's a sliver of statistical fact behind his assertion, I doubt it's grounds for any appreciable concern in the case of any given Aspie. I certainly won't be increasing my precautions against catching it. Mind you they're already pretty tight, what with Covid-19 cases skyrocketing and me living with a vulnerable person. But even before Covid-19, I usually took what doctors said with a pinch of salt. They can be very "one size fits all" about things, and sometimes their behaviour is influenced by money, like it seems to have been when my doctor offered me NHS nicotine gum (I'd already shown him the nicotine gum I was using). I later heard that doctors receive a payment every time they get a patient onto the NHS stop smoking scheme for which they give you a box of gum. So maybe he just wants to give you a flu jab and rake in a few pounds for that?

I assume your doctor informed you about a flu shot. Yes, asthma does make you more at risk from the flu. If and when the COVID vaccine comes, that would be a good idea to think about getting that as well. Both the flu and COVID causes respiratory illnesses.

The way it goes statistically is autistic people are likely to have low income, so they can't afford healthy living, live in poor areas which have more crime and disease - because of that they are more likely to be unhappy and depressed which can lower immunity - and so on.

So autistic people are statistically at greater risk when it comes to a lot of things.

I don't think that applies to every country. In the UK you usually get help from the government if you're on low income, unless you buy your house.

And I think it's more to do with the OP having athsma. I'm sure they're not going to say "you are poor and homeless with no support, but hey we have a flu shot for you" *autistic person dies of suicide or hyperthermia*.

Of course. Just because it may prevent you from visting a doctor once you really need an antibiotic.
Are you still alive?

I think for the majority of people the symptoms are like the flu but for people with weak immune it's more dangerous.

The magic number relates to deaths which is 3.4 x higher than the flu.

In the US in 2020 we have had 228,000 deaths from Covid whereas only 62,000 deaths are attributed to the flu

I thought you lived in Australia?

It has been pretty well been established that COVID is 5 times more lethal than the "regular" flus.

A figure of 0.5% overall mortality has been frequently attributed to COVID. Whereas the flu has a long-standing mortality rate of 0.1%.

Yes I think it's more dangerous to be poor in the USA. For one thing, the UK still has free healthcare (though it's gradually being dripped away), while in the US, if you can''t afford health insurance (which costs thousands) you're pretty much on your own. And in some states such as Arkansas, tenants have almost no rights at all. And then there's unemployment benefits - theoretically payable forever in the UK as long as you can prove you're actively seeking work, but in the US you just get a few weeks. And if you have a job, there's no unfair dismissal laws, so if your employer finds somebody else who will do the job cheaper, they can sack you without having to give a reason. And no State pension if you do live to be that old. I'm amazed they have any poor people left alive.