PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 392 - 7 Dec 2002

Influenza, pneumococcal vaccineuse suboptimal in US elderly

inpatientsUS recommendations for inpatient vaccination

against influenza virus and pneumococcal infections arenot being adhered to for a large proportion of eligibleelderly Medicare patients admitted to hospital, reportUS-based researchers.

They used medical records and US Medicare claimsdata to determine influenza and pneumococcalvaccination rates among 107 311 such patients aged ≥65 years who were discharged from hospital with adiagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, heart failure,pneumonia or stroke between April 1998 and March1999. Adjusted results for patients with a singlehospitalisation (n = 104 976) revealed that only 1.5%and 0.3% of patients were vaccinated against influenzavirus and pneumococcal infections in the hospital,respectively. A respective 31.1% and 32.9% werevaccinated prior to hospitalisation, while 10.1% and0.9% had a claim for influenza or pneumococcalvaccination in the month after discharge.

Failure to vaccinate eligible inpatients ‘is a missedopportunity that places them at risk for preventableadverse events including morbidity, hospitalreadmission, and death associated with influenza andpneumococcal disease’, comment the researchers.Bratzler DW, et al. Failure to vaccinate Medicare inpatients: a missed opportunity.Archives of Internal Medicine 162: 2349-2356, 11 Nov 2002 800928458

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 7 Dec 2002 No. 3921173-5503/10/0392-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved