A surveillance study of adults (aged ≥20 years) hospitalised with acute respiratory infections in Auckland between 2012 and 2023 found that those aged ≥80 years, of Māori or Pacific ethnicity, and living in low socioeconomic status areas had the highest hospitalisation rates for both influenza and human metapneumovirus (HMPV). Crude hospitalisation rates were 9.7 per 100 000 adults (95% CI 9.0-10.4) for HMPV and 48.2 (95% CI 46.6-49.7) for influenza. HMPV-associated hospitalisation rates were not significantly different before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, but influenza-associated hospitalisation increased from 43.0 per 100 000 adults before the pandemic, to 54.4 in 2022 and 79.5 in 2023.
