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Vaccinated Senior Citizens Less Likely to Die from
Pneumonia
March 16, 2006 – It may be unclear if the
vaccination for pneumonia will prevent the deadly disease, but a new
study says senior citizens hospitalized for pneumonia and who received
the pneumococcal vaccine are at a lower risk of dying from the disease
than those who haven’t been vaccinated. Prior vaccination also reduces
patients’ risk of developing medical complications and decreases their
length of stay in the hospital, according to an article in the Clinical
Infectious Diseases, April 15 issue and now available online.
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Health & Medicine |
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Pneumococci, or Streptococcus pneumoniae, are
bacteria that colonize the nose and throat, often without causing harm.
When they do cause infection, however, it can be serious, sometimes
resulting in pneumonia that could be fatal to people who are elderly or
vulnerable due to other illnesses.
Researchers from Pennsylvania, Texas, and New
Jersey analyzed data from nearly 63,000 patients hospitalized for
pneumonia between 1999 and 2003. Twelve percent of the patients were
known to have received pneumococcal vaccination prior to being
hospitalized, 23 percent were unvaccinated, and the rest had unknown
vaccine status.
The mean ages of those in the study were 71.7
years, for those vaccinated, 73.5 for those unvaccinated and 71.4, for
those of an unknown status.
Vaccinated adult patients were 40 to 70 percent
less likely to die during hospitalization than either unvaccinated
patients or patients with unknown status. Vaccinated patients also had a
lower risk of developing respiratory failure, kidney failure, heart
attack, or other ailments. In addition, vaccinated patients’ average
hospital stay was two days shorter than that of unvaccinated patients.
Adult pneumococcal vaccination is somewhat
controversial, according to lead author David Fisman, MD, of Princeton
University, because “it’s been very hard to show that it prevents
pneumonia, especially in older adults.” However, the benefits of
vaccination seem evident in the new study. “When people hit the door
really sick and most likely to die, even in those people, being
vaccinated was associated with a lower risk of death,” Dr. Fisman said.
The pneumococcal vaccine impairs the development of a serious condition
called bacteremia, or bacterial infection of the bloodstream. “Even if
you’re really sick, prevention of the bacteria getting into the
bloodstream…might save your life,” Dr. Fisman said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) recommends that adults age 65 and older should get the
pneumococcal vaccination, as should younger people with certain medical
problems.
CDC’s “Healthy People 2010 program sets a goal of
having 90 percent of older adults vaccinated by 2010. “Among older
people, we think that about 60 percent of those who ought to get the
vaccine actually get it,” Dr. Fisman said. “According to our results,
reaching the CDC’s ‘Healthy People 2010’ targets for pneumococcal
vaccination would be expected to save thousands of lives, and prevent
tens of millions of dollars in healthcare expenses each year.”
Even though it’s not clear whether the pneumococcal
vaccine can ward off pneumonia, the known advantages make the case for
vaccination. “Whether or not it prevents pneumonia is almost
irrelevant—it clearly has an effect on reducing death in the individuals
who get pneumonia,” said Dr. Fisman.
About the publication
Founded in 1979, Clinical Infectious Diseases
publishes clinical articles twice monthly in a variety of areas of
infectious disease, and is one of the most highly regarded journals in
this specialty. It is published under the auspices of the Infectious
Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Based in Alexandria, Virginia, IDSA
is a professional society representing about 8,000 physicians and
scientists who specialize in infectious diseases. For more information,
visit
www.idsociety.org.
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