Below you will find summaries of new articles to be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The abstracts are not intended to replace the entire articles as a source of information. This information is subject to a strict embargo and by including it, the media representatives promise the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.
1. State laws promoting flu vaccination for hospital staff may help prevent flu-like deaths and seizures
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Research suggests that state laws that promote flu vaccination to hospital workers may be effective in preventing flu and flu deaths, especially among the elderly. Results from a semi-experimental observational study are published in History of internal treatments.
Seasonal flu vaccines are a key protection against infection, but may not be as effective in older adults and people with chronic disease who are most at risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has long advocated for health care workers and several states have enacted laws requiring hospitals to provide flu vaccines on site for their staff. It is not known how these laws affect pneumonia and flu mortality.
Researchers from the University of Georgia, Montana State University, and Monash University used the design of a semi-experimental, state-of-the-art, long-term study to estimate the association between flu vaccination laws of state hospital staff with flu mortality rates severe and pneumonia. In one design, the researchers performed a synthetic control analysis to estimate the effect of individual treatment for each of the 14 states that adopted vaccine law between 2002 and 2014. In the other design, they estimated average treatment effects using state-of-the-art, long-term model in which they controlled for national time-based effects, state-based effects, and state-specific time shifts. Each of these approaches compared differences in mortality rates between states with and without laws in place, before and after law enforcement.
The researchers found that the implementation of state vaccine law was associated with a 2.5% reduction in monthly and flu mortality rates in the years when the vaccine matched well the circulation cycles. This means that during the 2016-2017 flu year (when 15 states enacted laws), approximately 1,822 flu and flu deaths were avoided due to the laws. The greatest impact occurred in the elderly and during flu months. According to the researchers, these findings suggest that immunization laws could be a good way to protect the country’s most vulnerable populations.
Media contacts: For a PDF under embargo, contact Angela Collom at [email protected].
To reach the corresponding author, Emily Lawler, PhD, contact Caroline Paris Paczkowski at [email protected].
Also in this issue:
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