Vaccination Reduces Influenza-associated Death in Children and Adolescents

HealthDay News — Influenza vaccination is associated with reduced risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated death in children, with overall vaccine effectiveness of 65%, according to research published in Pediatrics.

Brendan Flannery, PhD, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues conducted a case-control analysis comparing vaccination uptake among laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated pediatric deaths with estimated vaccination coverage among pediatric cohorts. The researchers obtained influenza vaccination coverage estimates from national survey data or a national insurance claims database.

The researchers found that there were 358 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated pediatric deaths among children aged 6 months through 17 years from July 2010 through June 2014. Vaccination status was obtained for 291 deaths; 26% received vaccine before onset of illness. In the survey cohorts, the average vaccination coverage was 48%. The overall vaccine effectiveness against death was 65%. Of 153 deaths in children with underlying high-risk medical conditions, 31% were vaccinated. Among children with high-risk conditions, vaccine effectiveness was 51%, compared with 65% among children without high-risk conditions.

“Influenza vaccination was associated with reduced risk of laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated pediatric death,” the researchers write. “Increasing influenza vaccination could prevent influenza-associated deaths among children and adolescents.”

Reference

Flannery B, Reynolds SB, Blanton L et al. Influenza vaccine effectiveness against pediatric deaths: 2010-2014 [published online April 3, 2017]. Pediatrics. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-4244