Flu shots and death

[Guest guest]

Hi All, The below PDF available paper seemed to say that flu mortality goes

down with flu shots. Adjustments were made for respiratory tract disease,

cardiac disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, renal dysfunction, cancer,

and vaccination history.

Cheers, Al.

Influenza Vaccination in Community-Dwelling Elderly: Impact on Mortality and

Influenza-Associated Morbidity

Bettie C. G. Voordouw, D. van der Linden, Simon Simonian, Johan van

der Lei, Miriam C. J. M. Sturkenboom, and Bruno H. C. Stricker

Arch Intern Med 2003;163 1089-1094

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/9/1089?etoc

Results Influenza vaccination was associated with a significant reduction

of morbidity and mortality in vaccinated elderly (relative risk [RR], 0.72;

95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60-0.87). Influenza infections decreased

significantly in the vaccinated population (RR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.26-0.91).

Mortality was reduced significantly in elderly with comorbidity (RR, 0.67;

95% CI, 0.48-0.94). The risk reduction for pneumonia was nonsignificant (RR,

0.77; 95% CI, 0.55-1.07) but was temporally related to the peak influenza

activity. [And was significant when looking at people, likely true for

CRers too, who had no co-morbidities.]

Alan Pater, Ph.D.; Faculty of Medicine; Memorial University; St. 's, NL

A1B 3V6 Canada; Tel. No.: (709) 777-6488; Fax No.: (709) 777-7010; email:

apater@...