Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2008 Nov;122(5):911-9.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-3304.

Vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed influenza in children 6 to 59 months of age during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 influenza seasons

Katherine W Eisenberg  1 , Peter G Szilagyi, Gerry Fairbrother, Marie R Griffin, Mary Staat, Laura P Shone, Geoffrey A Weinberg, Caroline B Hall, Katherine A Poehling, Kathryn M Edwards, Geraldine Lofthus, Susan G Fisher, Carolyn B Bridges, Marika K Iwane; New Vaccine Surveillance Network
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed influenza in children 6 to 59 months of age during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 influenza seasons

Katherine W Eisenberg et al. Pediatrics. 2008 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: The goal was to estimate the effectiveness of influenza vaccination against laboratory-confirmed influenza during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 influenza seasons in children 6 to 59 months of age.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study with children with medically attended, acute respiratory infections who received care in an inpatient, emergency department, or outpatient clinic setting during 2 consecutive influenza seasons. All children residing in Monroe County, New York, Davidson County, Tennessee, or Hamilton County, Ohio, were enrolled prospectively at the time of acute illness and had nasal/throat swabs tested for influenza with cultures and/or polymerase chain reaction assays. Children with laboratory-confirmed influenza were case subjects and children who tested negative for influenza were control subjects. Child vaccination records from the parent and the child's physician were used to determine and to validate influenza vaccination status. Influenza vaccine effectiveness was calculated as (1 - adjusted odds ratio) x 100.

Results: We enrolled 288 case subjects and 744 control subjects during the 2003-2004 season and 197 case subjects and 1305 control subjects during the 2004-2005 season. Six percent and 19% of all study children were fully vaccinated according to immunization guidelines in the respective seasons. Full vaccination was associated with significantly fewer influenza-related inpatient, emergency department, or outpatient clinic visits in 2004-2005 (vaccine effectiveness: 57%) but not in 2003-2004 (vaccine effectiveness: 44%). Partial vaccination was not effective in either season.

Conclusions: Receipt of all recommended doses of influenza vaccine was associated with halving of laboratory-confirmed influenza-related medical visits among children 6 to 59 months of age in 1 of 2 study years, despite suboptimal matches between the vaccine and circulating influenza strains in both years.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Vaccine effectiveness (VE) using multivariate conditional logistic regression to estimate laboratory-confirmed influenza-related visits by risk status for fully vaccinated children compared to unvaccinated children, adjusting for age in months and insurance type according to influenza season. High-risk conditions included asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, immune deficiency, kidney disease, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and chronic lung disease.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Vaccine effectiveness (VE) using multivariate conditional logistic regression to estimate laboratory-confirmed influenza-related visits by visit setting for fully vaccinated children compared to unvaccinated children, adjusting for age in months and insurance type according to influenza season. High-risk conditions included asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, immune deficiency, kidney disease, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, and chronic lung disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Poehling KA, Edwards KM, Weinberg GA, et al. The underrecognized burden of influenza in young children. N Engl J Med. 2006 Jul 6;355(1):31–40. - PubMed
    1. Neuzil KM, Mellen BG, Wright PF, Mitchel EF, Griffin MR. The effect of influenza on hospitalizations, outpatient visits, and courses of antibiotics in children. N Engl J Med. 2000 Jan 27;342(4):225–31. - PubMed
    1. Coffin SE, Zaoutis TE, Rosenquist ABW, et al. Incidence, complications, and risk factors for prolonged stay in children hospitalized with community-acquired influenza. Pediatrics. 2007 Apr 1;119(4):740–8. - PubMed
    1. Izurieta HS, Thompson WW, Kramarz P, et al. Influenza and the rates of hospitalization for respiratory disease among infants and young children. N Engl J Med. 2000 Jan 27;342(4):232–9. - PubMed
    1. Neuzil KM, Zhu Y, Griffin MR, et al. Burden of interpandemic influenza in children younger than 5 years: A 25-year prospective study. J Infect Dis. 2002 Jan 15;185(2):147–52. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances