Risk factors for Flu

A risk factor is something that increases your chance of getting a disease or condition.

Risk factors include:

• Living or working in crowded group conditions, such as:
  • Nursing home
  • School
  • Military forces
  • Daycare center

All the remaining factors don’t increase the risk of getting flu, but they do increase the risk of developing complications from flu:

• Age: newborn babies and the elderly
• Women in the third trimester of pregnancy
• Diabetes
• Weakened immune systems, such as in:
  • Cancer patients
  • AIDS patients
  • People taking immunosuppressive drugs
  • People who have had their spleen removed
• Chronic lung, heart, kidney, or blood conditions