Sweden, July 25: Parents are being unnecessarily worried by the way the Government is presenting the figures on the unfolding swine flu pandemic, a leading academic claimed yesterday.
Figures published by the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency show the pandemic accelerated last week with 100,000 new cases, almost twice the previous total of 55,000. Officials have said the virus is targeting children, shown by the high GP consultation rates (per 100,000 population) in the under-15s. But an analysis of the rates by Sheila Bird, professor of Biostatistics at the Medical Research Council in Cambridge, shows that the actual number of GP consultations is 75 per cent higher in adults, because of their greater numbers in the population.
Seven adults are consulting their GP about flu for every four children, Professor Bird’s calculations show. They are published on the website Straight Statistics, a campaign launched last month to improve the use of statistics by the Government. “Both figures [the actual numbers and the rates] are important but they give a very different sense of what is happening. Parents are being unduly alarmed because they are not being given the full picture,” Professor Bird said yesterday.
–Agencies