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September 11, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Influence of High-Risk Medical Conditions on the Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccination Among Elderly Members of 3 Large Managed-Care Organizations" Clinical Infectious Diseases
(www.journals.uchicago.edu/CID/home.html) (08/15/02) Vol. 35, No. 4, P. 370; Hak, Eelko; Nordin, James; Wei, Feifei
Three large managed-care companies from different parts of the United States are working together to pool data about the health of their patients in order to provide better and more cost-effective treatment and preventive medicine. To that end, the groups recruited persons over the age of 64 years within their health plans, either in nursing homes or out in communities, for an investigation into the risk of hospitalization or death associated with influenza and the preventive benefits of vaccination against the disease. For the period between 1996 and 1997, 122,974 patients were eligible for the trial, while for the 1997-1998 period, 158,454 plan members could participate. The patients were classified by their pre-existing conditions, such as cardiac disorders, cancer, or renal disease. Overall, patients were classified by whether they were vaccinated against influenza or not. The unvaccinated cohort experienced 8.2 deaths in every 1,000 healthy patients and 38.4 deaths in 1,000 at-risk patients for the first year, a figure which dropped slightly to 8.2 deaths in 1,000 healthy patients and 29.3 deaths in 1,000 at-risk persons during the second year. Among vaccinated persons, those figures dropped to 3.8 deaths for the first year and 3.5 deaths per 1,000 patients for the second year, and to 18.0 deaths in year one and just 8.5 deaths in year two for high-risk patients. The results, when adjusted for preexisting conditions, indicate that vaccination reduces the incidence of hospitalization or death by 48 percent in elderly people.
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.