Chest
Volume 155, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 69-78
Journal home page for Chest

Original Research: COPD
Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccination on Hospitalizations and Risk Factors for Severe Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients With COPD

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2018.10.044Get rights and content

Background

The effectiveness of influenza vaccination in reducing influenza-related hospitalizations among patients with COPD is not well described, and influenza vaccination uptake remains suboptimal.

Methods

Data were analyzed from a national, prospective, multicenter cohort study including patients with COPD, hospitalized with any acute respiratory illness or exacerbation between 2011 and 2015. All patients underwent nasopharyngeal swab screening with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for influenza. The primary outcome was an influenza-related hospitalization. We identified influenza-positive cases and negative control subjects and used multivariable logistic regression with a standard test-negative design to estimate the vaccine effectiveness for preventing influenza-related hospitalizations.

Results

Among 4,755 hospitalized patients with COPD, 4,198 (88.3%) patients with known vaccination status were analyzed. The adjusted analysis showed a 38% reduction in influenza-related hospitalizations in vaccinated vs unvaccinated individuals. Influenza-positive patients (n = 1,833 [38.5%]) experienced higher crude mortality (9.7% vs 7.9%; P = .047) and critical illness (17.2% vs 12.1%; P < .001) compared with influenza-negative patients. Risk factors for mortality in influenza-positive patients included age > 75 years (OR, 3.7 [95% CI, 0.4-30.3]), cardiac comorbidity (OR, 2.0 [95% CI, 1.3-3.2]), residence in long-term care (OR, 2.6 [95% CI, 1.5-4.5]), and home oxygen use (OR, 2.9 [95% CI, 1.6-5.1]).

Conclusions

Influenza vaccination significantly reduced influenza-related hospitalization among patients with COPD. Initiatives to increase vaccination uptake and early use of antiviral agents among patients with COPD could reduce influenza-related hospitalization and critical illness and improve health-care costs in this vulnerable population.

Trial Registry

ClinicalTrials.govNo.:NCT01517191; URL www.clinicaltrials.gov

Section snippets

Patients and Methods

A post hoc analysis of data collected in a national multicenter prospective cohort study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of influenza vaccination in adult patients hospitalized with acute respiratory illness.17, 18 Data from the Canadian Immunization Research Network Serious Outcomes Surveillance (SOS) database were analyzed. The SOS database contains information from adult patients (≥ 16 years of age) hospitalized for acute respiratory infection (including pneumonia, acute COPDE or

Results

A total of 4,755 adult patients with COPD were identified who were hospitalized with acute respiratory infection or exacerbation during the study. PCR-confirmed influenza was diagnosed in 38.5% (1,833 of 4,755) of patients.

Discussion

In this multicenter prospective cohort study, influenza vaccination was associated with a significant reduction in influenza-related hospitalizations (38%). Our estimates of seasonal vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization in this study mirror those reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the general outpatient population. The available vaccine was not an accurate match for the predominant circulating strain for H3N2 during the 2014 to 2015 season, which accounted

Conclusions

The present study reported a significant reduction in influenza-related hospitalizations associated with seasonal influenza vaccination and identified a high burden of influenza infection among hospitalized patients with COPD. Important clinical care gaps were also identified, including low influenza vaccination rates and delayed initiation of antiviral therapy in this high-risk population of patients with COPD.

Future research should focus on knowledge translation interventions to increase and

Acknowledgments

Author contributions: S. M. takes full responsibility for the content of the manuscript, including the data analysis. S. A. M., S. M., L. Y., T. H., M. K. A., and A. A. were involved in the conception and design of the study. S. A. M., M. K. A., and A. A. were responsible for acquisition of data. T. H. and M. E. conducted/supervised the Canadian Immunization Research Network SOS Network central laboratory. S. M., L. Y., L. L., T. H., M. K. A., and S. A. M. analyzed and interpreted the data.

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    Dr Dos Santos is currently at GlaxoSmithKline (Wavre, Belgium); Ms Ibarguchi is currently at Bayer Inc. (Mississauga, ON, Canada); and Dr Shinde is currently at Novavax Vaccines (Washington, DC).

    FUNDING/SUPPORT: Multiple funding sources facilitated and sustained the SOS Network, including the Canadian Institutes for Health Research [FRN#96974], the Public Health Agency of Canada, and a collaborative Research Grant from GlaxoSmithKline Biological SA.

    Collaborators from the Serious Outcomes Surveillance (SOS) Network of the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN) are listed in the Acknowledgements.

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