For the last 20 years, seniors have been told that getting a flu shot reduces their risk of getting pneumonia.
While getting the immunization is still recommended by physicians for helping ward off the high fever and severe aches and pains caused by influenza, its ability to reduce the risk of getting pneumonia has been overrated, Group Health researchers say.
Previous studies have suggested that the shot reduces the risk of pneumonia in seniors by 20 percent to 30 percent, said Michael Jackson, the lead author of the study.
“We’ve been overestimating how well the vaccine works” for preventing pneumonia, he said.
Pneumonia is one of the most common health problems that can be triggered by influenza.
The study by researchers at Group Health’s Center for Health Studies in Seattle is scheduled to be published Saturday in the British medical journal The Lancet.
Researchers decided to take a closer look at the assumption that the flu shot reduced the risk of pneumonia by studying the medical records of 3,500 Group Health patients aged 65 and up from 2000 to 2003.
They chose those years because the flu shot had good odds of preventing the virus. There was a good match between the three types of anti-flu agents in the shots and the types of flu that were making people sick, Jackson said.
Even so, researchers did not find strong evidence that the vaccine helped prevent pneumonia, Jackson said.
Several local physicians said the study shouldn’t discourage seniors or anyone else from getting the flu shot for its basic job, to help prevent influenza.
“Absolutely they should get the flu vaccine,” said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, health officer for the Snohomish Health District, the countywide public health agency.
However, preventing influenza in seniors isn’t just a matter of those 65 and up getting the shot, he said.
“The best way, if we really want to protect seniors, is to vaccinate the rest of the population,” Goldbaum said.
Of the 975 positive tests for flu conducted by the state Department of Health lab during the last two years, 65 percent were from people under the age of 30, he said.
Dr. Yuan-Po Tu, who monitors flu issues for The Everett Clinic, said that making sure preschoolers get flu shots is key to helping stop spread of the virus among seniors.
In a typical year, up to half of the children in day care come down with influenza, he said. Among adults, it’s much lower, about 5 percent to 20 percent.
So if toddlers get the flu, they often bring it home and spread it to their mom, dad, brothers and sisters, Tu said. “Then if grandpa and grandma come over, they’re sitting ducks.”
Japan saw deaths due to influenza or its complications drop while its school-aged children were required to get a flu shot, Tu said. That requirement, however, was ended in 1988.
Earlier this year, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its recommendation of what ages of children should get the shot — healthy kids between the ages of 6 months and 18 years of age.
Until now, the agency recommended the shot for children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years.
“The big push this year is to get all kids vaccinated,” Tu said. “That’s a big change.”
Dr. John Dunn, who heads Group Health’s immunization team, said that information will be sent to doctors on questions expected from seniors about the study.
Pneumonia is the most common complication from influenza, he said. But it’s just one of the health problems that can be caused by the virus.
“Influenza itself, even without pneumonia, can cause significant problems for the elderly and other people,” Dunn said.
“At this point … it’s still important to be getting the vaccine.”
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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