Fatteh Education: Pneumovax question
Patients and families will frequently ask whether they should get the Pneumovax while under hospice care. In our patient population there are many who have respiratory diseases. The study below suggests that Pneumovax is effective in a population similar to ours. If a patient wants to receive Pneumovax then it is reasonable to suggest that there may be a benefit in terms of reducing the risk of pneumococcal pneumonia in the sick elderly.
TITLE
Effectiveness of a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine for the prevention of pneumococcal pneumonia in the elderly with chronic respiratory diseases: a case-control study of a single center.
JOURNAL
BMC pulmonary medicine
DOI
10.1186/s12890-021-01491-w
Author(s)
T Masuda;E Nakatani;T Shirai;T Akamatsu;K Tamura;S Takahashi;Y Tanaka;H Watanabe;Y Endo;T Suzuki;M Saigusa;A Yamamoto;S Morita;Y Sato;K Asada
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) in preventing pneumococcal pneumonia has been controversial.
METHODS: To evaluate the effectiveness of the PPSV23 in elderly outpatients with chronic respiratory diseases, we carried out a case-control study, including 4128 outpatients aged ≥ 65 years, in the respiratory department. RESULTS There were 320 vaccinated patients, of which 164 were diagnosed with pneumococcal pneumonia. The adjusted odds ratio was 0.39 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.17 to 0.89). In the subsets consisting of age groups ≥ 70 and ≥ 75 years, the adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) was respectively 0.16 (0.04 to 0.67) and 0.15 (0.02 to 1.12).
CONCLUSION: This real-world study suggests that PPSV23 can be useful in preventing pneumococcal pneumonia in the elderly with chronic respiratory diseases.