[Effectiveness of anti-flu vaccine in the elderly]

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of anti-flu vaccination on elderly people not in institutions, by measuring its effect on the reduction of deaths and hospital admissions due to Cardio-respiratory failure.

Design: A retrospective cohort.

Setting: La Chana Health Centre, Granada.

Patients and other participants: 1,965 elderly people who were seen at the Health Centre over the previous three years.

Measurements and main results: 779 elderly people (39.6%) were vaccinated. 35 were admitted to hospital with Cardio-respiratory failure and 59 died. Of these two groups, 13 and 23 respectively had been given the anti-flu vaccination that year. After checking for variables which could lead to confusion, the vaccine was shown to be effective both in reducing admissions (advantage ratio 1,330) and deaths (advantage ratio 1,221).

Conclusions: Given the effectiveness of anti-flu vaccinations, active efforts to encourage non-institutionalised elderly people to be vaccinated should be increased.