Every fourth patient who received ecmo care has been a teenager, which can be compared to five percent of patients in 2024, reports Dagens Nyheter.
Ecmo care involves oxygenating the blood outside the body in a heart-lung machine. At the Ecmo center at Karolinska University Hospital, around 20 patients have been treated so far during the flu season, of which every fourth has been a teenager.
We see the worst cases in all of Sweden, since those who do not cope with regular intensive care come to the Ecmo center. It usually doesn't look like this. The patients are usually older, says Lars Falk, chief physician and head of operations, to DN.
According to the Public Health Agency, influenza A, particularly the H1N1 variant (swine flu), dominates this season, and as a result, there are generally more young adults who become severely ill.
We see that the number of admissions to intensive care continues to increase, and it's natural as long as the infection rate increases, says AnnaSara Carnahan, epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency.
The agency has not seen the same age pattern in regular intensive care as the one noted in ecmo care.
