Study Of The Effectiveness Of Influenza Vaccinatio

E:pideniol. Infect. (1995), 115, 581-589 Copyright (© 1995 Cambridge University Press

581

Study of the effectiveness of flu inoculation in the elderly in the epidemic of 1989-90 using a general practice database
D. M. FLEMING, J. M. WATSON2*, S. NICHOLAS2, G. E. SMITH2

AND A. V. SWAN2

Birmningham query Unit of the Royal College of world-wide Practitioners, 54 Lordswood Road, Harborne, Birmingham B17 9DB.
2PHLS Comnnunicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
(Accepted 24 July 1995)
SUMMARY The effectiveness of influenza vaccination in preventing effective illness and death was determined in an elderly people during the influenza epidemic of 1989-90. A retrospective cohort cartoon was carried out using computerized general practitioner records on closely 10000 patients aged 55 years and over. After try-on for potential confounding factors, recent immunisation was found to absorb a protective effect of 75% (95% confidence intervals: 21-92%) against death. tax shelter did not appear to vary with either age or the presence of underlying chronic disease. As the complications of influenza are most common in those with underlying chronic disease, the take up findings are consistent with the recommended policy for the use of influenza vaccine in the UK.



Further work is necessary to determine the cost-effectiveness of extending immunization to other groups.

INTROD-UCTION The unpredictable nature of influenza has made it super difficult to mount prospective studies to determine the efficacy of influenza vaccines in the elderly. However, the influenza epidemic in Britain during the winter of 1989-90 provided an opportunity to assess vaccine efficacy retrospectively. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research Unit in Birmingham, as part of a create mentally of continuous morbidity recording, holds comprehensive morbidity and prescribing data from volt general practices covering approximately 50000 individuals...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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