Assessment of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness in patients from a central Italy reference hospital: pitfalls and intricacies from a pilot case-control study

<p><strong>Objectives</strong><strong>: </strong>Influenza vaccination protects high-risk populations from severe outcomes. We assessed the feasibility of testing influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization with laboratory-confirmed influenza.</p><p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Katleen de Gaetano Donati, Simona Costanzo, Lara Campana, Marco Olivieri, Rosaria Santangelo, Maurizio Sanguinetti, Roberto Cauda, Licia Iacoviello
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Milano University Press 2014-07-01
Series:Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health
Online Access:http://ebph.it/article/view/9157
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Summary:<p><strong>Objectives</strong><strong>: </strong>Influenza vaccination protects high-risk populations from severe outcomes. We assessed the feasibility of testing influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization with laboratory-confirmed influenza.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>All hospitalized patients with influenza-like illness within 14 days, were swabbed. Cases were positive at RT-PCR for influenza A/B. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Results:</strong> AtRome “GemelliHospital” (Season 2011-2012) 104 patients were contacted and 62 recruited. Considering total sample and target group (n= 47, 76%), only 29% and 38% had been vaccinated. Eighteen patients were laboratory-confirmed for influenza.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> RecruitedILI patients and prevalence of vaccinated subjects were less than expected. Larger numbers are warranted to study vaccine effectiveness against severe influenza outcomes.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p>
ISSN:2282-0930