A randomised, clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of hospital and community-based reminder systems for increasing uptake of influenza and pneumococcal vaccine in hospitalised patients aged 65 years and over.

Autor: MacIntyre, C. R., Kainer, M. A., Brown, G. V.
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Zdroj: Gerontology; Jan/Feb2003, Vol. 49 Issue 1, p33-40, 8p, 1 Diagram, 3 Charts, 2 Graphs
Abstrakt: Hospitalisation represents an opportunity to identify unimmunised people at risk for the complications of influenza and pneumococcal disease. We conducted a randomised controlled trial of two strategies to increase uptake of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines in eligible, hospitalised subjects aged 65 years or more, admitted between May and September 1998 to a Melbourne hospital. Unvaccinated participants were allocated randomly to alert systems for hospital staff or community general practitioners (GPs). Follow-up occurred at 1 and 3 months. The baseline vaccination rates were 70% for influenza (426/606) and 41% (248/606) for pneumococcal disease. For unvaccinated subjects, the hospital alert resulted in 67% uptake compared to 55% following a GP alert for pneumococcal vaccine; and 63% in hospital compared to 53% following a GP alert for influenza vaccine. Although there was a trend toward a higher uptake in hospital, neither of these differences was statistically significant. The majority (75%) of vaccinations following a GP alert occurred within 1 month of discharge. Despite hospital and community-based reminder systems, there are still significant missed opportunities for vaccination. We did not demonstrate significant differences between hospital and GP reminder systems, but there was a trend towards higher uptake with opportunistic vaccination in hospital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index
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