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Flu Shots Cut Deaths in Older Adults
Oct. 3, 2007 -- Giving flu shots to older adults is a highly effective way to prevent influenza and pneumonia-related hospitalizations and death in this highly vulnerable population, a new study shows.
Vaccination was associated with a 27% reduction in the risk of hospitalization for flu or pneumonia and a 48% reduction in the risk of death in members of several of the nation’s largest HMOs followed for up to 10 flu seasons.
The study comes just a week after publication of a research review suggesting that the benefits of vaccinating the elderly against the flu may have been exaggerated.
While there is still debate among the experts about just how effective flu shots are in older populations, there is widespread agreement that elderly people should be vaccinated, vaccine researcher John D. Treanor, MD, tells WebMD.
“Everyone understands it would be great to have a better vaccine, but the one that we have clearly does work and it is very well-tolerated,” he says. “Vaccination is one of the best ways we have to protect older people.”
(Will you get a flu shot this year? Will you encourage your aging parents to get one? Share your thoughts on our Active Aging message board.)
Flu Shot Studies
Past studies examining the effectiveness of flu shots in the elderly have generally compared outcomes among people who did and did not get vaccinated by reviewing medical records.
These studies have consistently shown an association between vaccination and reductions in seasonal flu and pneumonia-related hospitalizations and death.
But some have questioned the findings because the studies also show reductions in deaths from other, noninfectious disease-related causes during flu season.
“The conclusion you might draw from this is that influenza is responsible for a significant proportion of all the deaths in the elderly that occur during the winter, and many people feel that is not realistic,” says Treanor, who directs the vaccine and treatment evaluation unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
One theory is that healthier elderly people get flu shots more often than sicker and frailer older people. If this is the case, the doubters say, the healthier, vaccinated population would be expected to have fewer hospitalizations and deaths. The
The new study, which appears in the Oct. 4 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, was designed to address this and other concerns.
Kristin L. Nichol, MD, MPH, and colleagues examined the effect of flu vaccination in up to 10 influenza seasons in older members of three geographically diverse HMOs, including years when there was a good match between the vaccine and the influenza outbreak and years when the match was not as good. Participants were at least 65 years old with an average age of 74.
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