We estimated age-standardized ratios of infection and hospitalization among Canadian First Nations (FN) populations and compared their distributions with those estimated for non-FN populations in Manitoba, Canada.
For the spring and fall 2009 waves of the H1N1 pandemic, we obtained daily numbers of laboratory-confirmed and hospitalized cases of H1N1 infection, stratified by 5-year age groups and FN status. We calculated age-standardized ratios with confidence intervals for each wave and compared ratios between age groups in each ethnic group and between the 2 waves for FN and non-FN populations.
Incidence and hospitalization ratios in all FN age groups during the first wave were significantly higher than those in non-FN age groups (P