{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,14]],"date-time":"2025-05-14T04:18:05Z","timestamp":1747196285030,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,1]],"date-time":"2022-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1669852800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as lockdown, social distancing and use of face coverings was adopted by the United Kingdom (UK) Armed Forces (AF) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study assessed the impact of the use of NPIs on the incidence of influenza-like illness (ILI) in the UK AF.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A longitudinal study design was adopted, and secondary data was analysed retrospectively. Clinical Read codes for ILI was used to generate data for flu seasons before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (September 2017 to April 2021).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of reporting ILI was ~ 4% across all flu seasons. The count of ILI was 2.9%, 2.2% and 3.1% during 2017\u201318, 2018\u201319 and 2019\u201320 flu seasons respectively. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both the rate of reporting ILI (0.6%) and the count of ILI (0.5%) were significantly smaller (p &lt; .001). The rate of reporting ILI was positively correlated with the count of ILI (r (2) = .97, p = .014). Influenza vaccination rate increased by 1.3% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccination rate was negatively correlated with the rate of reporting ILI (r (2) = -.52, p = 0.24) and the count of ILI (r (2) = -.61, p = 0.19). However, this correlation was not significant. The use of NPIs was negatively correlated with the rate of reporting ILI (r (2) = -.99, p = &lt; .001) and the count of ILI (r (2) = -.95, p = 0.026). The overall multiple regression performed was statistically significant (R<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> = 0.94, F (1, 2) = 33.628, p = 0.028). The rate of reporting ILI significantly predicted the count of ILI (\u03b2 = 0.609, p = 0.028) while vaccination rate did not significantly predict the count of ILI (\u03b2 = -0.136, p = 0.677).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The incidence of ILI in the UK AF was significantly reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of NPIs and the rate of reporting ILI significantly reduced the count of ILI. Being vaccinated for influenza did not significantly reduce the count of ILI.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0270438","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,1]],"date-time":"2022-12-01T20:06:09Z","timestamp":1669925169000},"page":"e0270438","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions targeted at the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of influenza-like illness in the UK Armed Forces"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"George","family":"Otieno","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5734-9690","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ngwa Niba","family":"Rawlings","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0270438.ref001","unstructured":"ICU-HDU Influenza Surveillance: RETIRED [Internet]. 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