Study finds fewer deaths among elderly ICU patients vaccinated against influenza

It seems that a flu shot does not work only against the flu. A new study shows that older people who have been admitted to intensive care units are less likely to die and have a blood clot or brain bleeds if they have been vaccinated. And this in spite of the fact that they are generally older, have more chronic diseases and take more drugs than those who have not been vaccinated.

The study covers nearly 90,000 patients over 65 years old in intensive care survivors over a period of eleven years in Denmark. Only a few of them were admitted directly because of the flu. However, regardless of the cause of admission, the risk of having a stroke (the collective name of bleeding and blood clots in the brain) of those vaccinated was 16% lower. This group also has a reduced risk of death of 8% in the first year after hospitalization.

Every year, 30,000 people are admitted to the intensive care units of Danish hospitals and we know that the first year is crucial. About three out of four people survive hospitalization and come out of the hospital. But even among patients discharged from the hospital, nearly one in five dies during the first year, while many others suffer from complications. Our study shows that there are fewer deaths and serious complications among flu vaccinated patients. This is consistent with the current recommendation that seniors should be vaccinated. "

Christian Fynbo Christiansen, Associate Professor of Clinic at Aarhus University Hospital and Consultant at the University Hospital of Aarhus, Denmark

Today, less than forty percent of older Europeans say yes to vaccination.

"We can not say one hundred percent that the risk of stroke and death is reduced only because of the vaccine, but we can see that the vaccinated elderly have better results in case of serious illness. suggests that it would be nice if more elderly people were getting the vaccine, especially because the vaccine is both safe and cheap, "Christian Fynbo Christiansen said.

This is the first time that researchers are studying the effects of the vaccine on seriously ill elderly patients. Other researchers have already shown that influenza vaccine reduces the risk of bacterial infections and heart attacks. However, the study shows that this is not the case for older patients in intensive care.

"Surprisingly, the vaccine did not reduce the number of pneumonia cases in our study – we expected it to do so, as has already been shown by some previous studies." vaccine for this purpose on younger and healthy individuals.There was also no clear difference This raises new research questions about the effect of the vaccine on the immune system and on the immune system. 39; existence of other differences between patients, "said Christian Fynbo Christiansen.

The results of the research – more information:

This cohort-based cohort study covers 89,818 patients who survived hospitalization in intensive care units in Denmark during the period 2005-2015. Patients were identified in the Danish intensive database with badociated information from other health registries.