A framework for classifying disease trends applied to influenza-associated hospital admissions in the United States

Using Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) data, we established thresholds for weekly hospitalization rate differences to categorize changes. We applied thresholds to National Healthcare Safety Network influenza admissions from the 2022/2023-2023/2024 seasons. This metric identified more large increases and decreases in 2022/2023 and facilitated rapid trend assessment.