Seasonal influenza vaccination is associated with reduced risk of death among Medicare beneficiaries < sup > ☆ < /sup >

Vaccine. 2021 Nov 23:S0264-410X(21)01461-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.11.016. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBACKGROUND: Influenza causes substantial mortality, especially among older persons. Influenza vaccines are rarely more than 50% effective and rarely reach more than half of the US Medicare population, which is primarily an aged population. We wished to estimate the association between vaccination and mortality reduction.METHOD: We used the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) DataLink Project to determine vaccination status and timing during the 2017-2018 influenza season for more than 26 million Medicare enrollees. Patient-level demographic, health, co-morbidity, hospitalization, vaccination, and healthcare utilization claims data were supplied as covariates to general linear models in order to isolate and estimate the association between participation in the vaccination program and relative risk of death.FINDINGS: The 2017-2018 seasonal influenza vaccine reduced (Relative Risk Ratio [RRR] 0.936 [95% CI = 0.918-0.954]) the risk of all-cause death among beneficiaries following a hospitalization for sepsis and moreover the risk of death without a prior hospitalization during the 2.5-month outcome window (RRR 0.870 [95% CI = 0.853-0.887]). We estimate the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent a death in the ten-week outcome window is between 1,515 beneficiaries (95% CI = 1,351-1,754; derived from the average treatment effect of augmented inverse prob...

Source: Vaccine - November 27, 2021 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Timothy G Buchman Steven Q Simpson Kimberly L Sciarretta Kristen P Finne Nicole Sowers Michael Collier Saurabh Chavan Rose Do Cheng Lin Ibijoke Oke Kiersten E Rhodes Aathira Santhosh Alexander T Sandhu Steve Chu Sandeep A Patel Gary L Disbrow Rick A Brigh Source Type: research