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- Page navigation anchor for RE: Does repeated influenza vaccination prevent severe/fatal influenza in older adults? It might be, but also notRE: Does repeated influenza vaccination prevent severe/fatal influenza in older adults? It might be, but also not
In this study,[1] old inpatients with laboratory-confirmed severe and nonsevere influenza were matched with 3 controls each, hospitalized for causes other than acute respiratory diseases.
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Compared with patients unvaccinated in the last four seasons, adjusted effectiveness of influenza vaccination in the current and any previous season in preventing hospitalizations was 31% for nonsevere influenza, 74% for ICU, 70% in preventing death. However, vaccination only in the current season showed no reduced odds of severe disease, and increased deaths (adjusted OR 3.35, 1.06-10.58).
The Authors conclude that repeated influenza vaccination was twice as effective in preventing severe compared with nonsevere influenza in hospitalized old patients, reinforcing recommendations for annual revaccination. However, this conclusion might be misleading.
Patients with severe influenza had a higher frequency of cardiovascular disease.[1]
A meta-analysis of RCTs in patients “at high cardiovascular risk” stated that influenza vaccine was associated with a lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.[2] Instead, this advantage was showed only among patients with active coronary artery disease (CAD),[3] without a significant risk reduction in stable CAD patients. In CAD-free people the vaccine showed a tendency to increase the risk of cardiovascular events, cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause mortality (RR 1,55 [0,96-2,51]).[3]
Influenza vaccination itself i...Competing Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Missing details in repeated influenza vaccination paperMissing details in repeated influenza vaccination paper
Does older adults refer to specific age group?
Detail about vaccinations and type of symptoms of patients are lacking.Competing Interests: None declared.