Influenza vaccine in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among elderly male veterans

• Published in: PloS one 2022-01, Vol.17 (1), p.e0262072
• Main Authors: Young-Xu, Yinong, Smith, Jeremy, Nealon, Joshua, Mahmud, Salaheddin M, Van Aalst, Robertus, Thommes, Edward W, Neupane, Nabin, Lee, Jason K H, Chit, Ayman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Bias; Biology and Life Sciences; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Complications; Death; Disease control; Electronic health records; Electronic medical records; Epidemiology; Government programs; Health aspects; Health care; Health care policy; Health hazards; Health risks; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Immunization; Influenza; Influenza vaccines; Influenza Vaccines - administration & dosage; Influenza, Human - epidemiology; Influenza, Human - prevention & control; Lung diseases; Lung diseases, Obstructive; Male; Medicare; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mortality; Mortality risk; Obstructive lung disease; Older people; Patient outcomes; Patients; Pharmacy; Pneumonia; Population; Proportional Hazards Models; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - epidemiology; Risk management; Seasons; Smith, Joshua; Socioeconomics; Statistical models; United States - epidemiology; Urinary tract; Urinary tract infections; Vaccination; Vaccines; Veterans
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262072

Prior studies have established those elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at elevated risk for developing influenza-associated complications such as hospitalization, intensive-care admission, and death. This study sought to determine whether influenza vaccination could improve survival among elderly patients with COPD. This study included Veterans (age ≥ 65 years) diagnosed with COPD that received care at the United States Veterans Health Administration (VHA) during four influenza seasons, from 2012-2013 to 2015-2016. We linked VHA electronic medical records and Medicare administrative files to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Death Index cause of death records as well as influenza surveillance data. A multivariable time-dependent Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare rates of mortality of recipients of influenza vaccination to those who did not have records of influenza vaccination. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, comorbidities, and healthcare utilization. Over a span of four influenza seasons, we included 1,856,970 person-seasons of observation where 1,199,275 (65%) had a record of influenza vaccination and 657,695 (35%) did not have a record of influenza vaccination. After adjusting for comorbidities, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, influenza vaccination was associated with reduced risk of death during the most severe periods of influenza seasons: 75% all-cause (HR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.24-0.26), 76% respiratory causes (HR = 0.24; 95% CI: 0.21-0.26), and 82% pneumonia/influenza cause (HR = 0.18; 95% CI: 0.13-0.26). A significant part of the effect could be attributed to "healthy vaccinee" bias as reduced risk of mortality was also found during the periods when there was no influenza activity and before patients received vaccination: 30% all-cause (HR = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.65-0.75), 32% respiratory causes (HR = 0.68; 95% CI: 0.60-0.78), and 51% pneumonia/influenza cause (HR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.31-0.78). However, as a falsification study, we found that influenza vaccination had no impact on hospitalization due to urinary tract infection (HR = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.80-1.18). Among elderly patients with COPD, influenza vaccination was associated with reduced risk for all-cause and cause-specific mortality.