How did CDC estimate that an average of 36,000 people die in the U.S. each year from seasonal flu?
(1) This statistic came from a 2003 JAMA study by CDC scientists [10]. The study used statistical modeling to estimate that during 9 influenza seasons from 1990-91 through 1998-99, an annual average of 36,000 flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death on their death certificate was listed as a respiratory or circulatory disease.
(2) A 2009 study that appeared in the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses made a similar estimate for the 10 influenza seasons from 1993 to 2003 [9].
But of course, according to you, JAMA and the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses are fly by night organizations that will publish just any old study.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm
You might want to look at those studies numbers broken down by age.