Citation:
Pierre-Olivier Lang, Aline Mendes, Jennifer Socquet, Noémie Assir, Sheila Govind and Richard Aspinall. Effectiveness of influenza vaccine in aging and older adults: comprehensive
analysis of the evidence. Clinical Interventions in Aging 2012:7 pp55–64
Abstract:
Foremost amongst the diseases preventable by vaccination is influenza.
Worldwide, influenza virus infection is associated with serious adverse events
leading to hospitalization, debilitating complications, and death in elderly
individuals. Immunization is considered to be the cornerstone for preventing
these adverse health outcomes, and vaccination programs are timed to optimize
protection during the annual influenza season. Trivalent inactivated influenza
virus vaccines are believed to be both effective and cost-saving; however, in
spite of widespread influenza vaccination programs, rates of hospitalization for
acute respiratory illness and cardiovascular diseases have been increasing in
this population during recent annual influenza seasons. From meta-analyses
summarizing estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness from available
observational clinical studies, this review aims to examine how effective
current influenza vaccine strategies are in the aging and older adult population
and to analyze which are the most important biases that interfere with
measurements of influenza vaccine effectiveness. Furthermore, consideration is
given to strategies that should be adopted in order to optimize influenza
vaccine effectiveness in the face of immune exhaustion.