Flu Shots Are Safe For People With Asthma, Study Finds.(Brief Article)

2001 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For the first time, a study reveals that influenza vaccines are safe for children and adults with asthma.

The study conducted by the American Lung Association's Asthma Clinical Research Centers Network puts to rest previous concerns about possible dangerous side effects of the flu shot in people with asthma.

The new study has important health implications, because influenza causes substantial illness in both children and adults with asthma.

"This study shows for the first time that the influenza vaccine is safe to use for children and adults with asthma, regardless of the severity of their asthma," said the study's lead author, Mario Castro, MD, MPH, principal investigator for the Washington University/St. Louis American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Center. "The flu vaccine is effective in preventing illness in 70-90% of cases."

The study was published in the November 22, 2001, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Castro noted that in the past, some physicians have been concerned about giving the flu shot to patients with severe asthma, or to children with asthma. "We found that the flu vaccine was safe for both groups," he said. "This study found that people with asthma did not have any higher rates of side effects for the 14 days after receiving the influenza vaccine compared with those who received a placebo."

"Unfortunately, only about 10% of people with asthma currently get a flu shot, in part because they have been afraid it would adversely affect their asthma. If vaccine rates increase to 50%, then 41% of flu-triggered asthma attacks would be prevented," said Norman H. Edelman, MD, scientific consultant for the American Lung Association. "If everyone with asthma gets a flu shot this year, we can prevent millions of asthma attacks, many of which would have been severe and resulted in hospitalizations."