The flu vaccine reduces the risk of death for elderly intensive care patients

The flu vaccine reduces the risk of death for elderly intensive care patients 

It appears that the influenza vaccine does not work only when it comes to influenza. A new study shows that the elderly who have been admitted to an intensive care unit, in case of vaccination, decrease the blood clot in the brain or decrease the risk of blood clotting or bleeding. And this is despite the fact that they are usually older, have more chronic diseases and take more drugs, which have not been vaccinated.

The study covers approximately 90,000 living intensive patients over the age of 65 over a period of eleven years in Denmark. Only a few of them were admitted directly due to influenza. However, regardless of the reason for admission, those who were at risk of having a stroke - which is the common name for bleeding and blood clots in the brain - was 16 percent less. This group has eight percent less risk of death during the first year after being admitted to its hospital.

"Every year, 30,000 people are admitted to intensive care units in Danish hospitals and we know that the first year is important. Three out of four people are admitted to the hospital and they are discharged from the hospital. As many as one in five patients who are discharged. One in five dies within the first year, while many others suffer from complications. Suggests that there are fewer deaths and serious complications imposed vaccine against influenza patients. Therefore, it supports the current recommendation is that elderly people should be vaccinated, "she says. Christian  Feenbo  Christianus, Clinical Associate Professor at Aarhus University Hospital and Advisor at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

Today, less than forty percent of the elderly say yes to European immunization.

"We cannot say with one hundred percent certainty that the risk of stroke and death is less due to the vaccine, but we can see that the elderly who have been vaccinated do a better job in the event of critical illness. It suggests. It would be good if more elderly people received the vaccine. Not least because the vaccine is both safe and inexpensive, "says Christian  Fenbo  Christian.

This is the first time researchers have seen the effects of the vaccine, especially on elderly critically ill patients. Other researchers have previously shown that influenza reduces the risk of bacterial infection and heart attack. However, studies show that this is not the case for elderly intensive care patients.

"Surprisingly, the vaccine did not reduce the number of cases of pneumonia in our study. We had otherwise expected that this would happen, as the previous few studies have shown that the vaccine has this effect on young and healthy individuals There was neither a clear difference. In the number of blood clots in the heart. This raises new research questions as to what are the effects of the vaccine on the immune system and what the diseases are. Are among the other differences, "says Christian Fenbo Christian.

The study is a register-based cohort study involving 89,818 patients who have been hospitalized in intensive care departments in Denmark during the period 2005–2015. Patients have been identified with information related to other health registers in the Danish intensive database.

                                              MOR.