Hospitalized elderly patients often not vaccinated for flu, pneumonia.

2002 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Elderly patients eligible for vaccinations against two major diseases - influenza and pneumococcal disease - are not being vaccinated during hospital admissions, according to new research.

Dale W. Bratzler, DO, MPH, of the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, Inc., Oklahoma City, and colleagues reviewed the records of 107,311 Medicare patients 65 and older who were discharged from hospitals between April 1, 1998, through March 31, 1999, to determine how many of them received vaccinations for influenza or pneumococcal disease.

According to background information in the article, influenza and pneumococcal vaccines are not given to elderly patients as often as they should be, and are not given during hospital admissions which provide opportunities for vaccinations to be given.

Up to 46% of influenza-related hospitalizations and approximately two-thirds of influenza-related deaths occur in elderly patients who were previously discharged from hospitals during the flu season, noted the article in the November 11, 2002 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Additionally, up to two-thirds of patients hospitalized with serious pneumococcal infections had been admitted to hospitals during the previous 3-5 years.

The researchers found that of the 104,976 patients with single hospitalizations during the study period, 35,169 (33.5%) received pneumococcal vaccinations before being admitted, 444 (0.4%) were vaccinated while in the hospital, and 1076 (1.0%) were vaccinated within 30 days of being ...