Vaccination protects against influenza deaths in elderly
Vaccination does protect elderly people from dying from influenza, according to data from a prospective cohort study.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine say
that trials have shown the efficacy of vaccines against flu but that
the effects of flu vaccines on mortality have only been estimated.
They used data from over 24,000 patients aged over 75 years from 73 general
practices in Britain. The researchers looked at deaths in both vaccinated
and unvaccinated groups from January 1996 to August 2000, calculating
the numbers of deaths for each day. In
unvaccinated subjects, daily all cause mortality was strongly associated
with an index of flu circulating in the population (ratio 1.16). The
association was strongest for respiratory deaths but was also present
for cardiovascular deaths.
In contrast, in those vaccinated against flu, mortality from any cause
was not associated with circulating influenza.
The researchers say that this difference could not easily be due to chance
(BMJ 2004;329:660). |
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