• Yuanjie Pang, Qi Wang, Min Lv, Mengke Yu, Ming Lu, Yangmu Huang, Jiang Wu, and Zheng Xie.
• Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.
• J. Infect. Dis. 2021 Apr 8; 223 (7): 1196-1204.

BackgroundInfluenza vaccination has been suggested to protect against death and recurrent events among patients with cardiovascular disease or chronic obstructive respiratory disease, but there is limited evidence in older adults, who have higher risks of influenza-associated hospitalization and mortality.MethodsPatients aged ≥60 years hospitalized for cardiovascular or respiratory diseases from the Beijing Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance database during 3 influenza seasons (2013-2014 through 2015-2016) were pooled to estimate the effects of influenza vaccination on hospitalization outcomes. Vaccination status was ascertained through cross-referencing the Beijing Elderly Influenza Vaccination database. The summer months (June-August) were used as a reference period to adjust for unmeasured confounders during influenza seasons.ResultsAfter adjustment for both measured and unmeasured confounders, influenza vaccination was associated with lower risks of in-hospital deaths among patients hospitalized for cardiovascular (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 0.85 [.68-1.06]) or respiratory diseases (0.66 [.54-.82]). Influenza vaccination was associated with a lower risk of readmission among patients with cardiovascular (odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 0.81 [.69-.95]) but not respiratory diseases (1.12 [.92-1.35]). Influenza vaccination was also associated with lower direct medical costs, but not with length of stay.ConclusionsInfluenza vaccination protected against hospitalization outcomes among older adults with cardiovascular or respiratory diseases.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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