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Influenza vaccine uptake higher in children with asthma

Children with asthma were vaccinated for influenza at a higher rate than children without asthma, according to findings presented at the 2016 American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.

However, researchers found that overall vaccination rates were low and have remained stagnant during the past five years.

“Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for children with asthma due to increased risk for complications with acute infection,” Deepa Patadia, MD, from Ohio State University, and colleagues wrote. “[However,] there is a lack of data regarding annual influenza vaccination rates, particularly among inner city children with asthma.”

To determine the rates of influenza vaccine uptake among children with asthma, Patadia and colleagues performed a retrospective review of EHRs of children aged 2 to 18 years at a tertiary care pediatric hospital from 2010 to 2014.

The researchers examined patient data for demographics, asthma diagnosis and influenza vaccine administration. Patadia and colleagues observed that between 2010 and 2014, total primary care network patients increased from 50,021 to 58,866, including children with asthma (8,240 [16.5%] in 2010 vs. 8,574 [14.6%] in 2014.).

Over the duration of the review, the researchers found that children with asthma (86.8% to 87.5%) were covered by Medicaid in comparable numbers as those without asthma (83.1% to 85.9%).

According to study results, influenza vaccination rates were significantly higher (P < .0001) for children with asthma (n = 4,570; 55.5%) in 2010 compared to those without (n = 18,755; 44.9%), a variance was sustained annually between the two groups until 2014 (53.9% vs. 44.3%).

However, researchers identified a decline in vaccination rates for children with asthma (1.6%) as well as children without asthma (0.6%) during the study period.

“During the 2014-2015 season, influenza vaccination rates were significantly higher for children with asthma compared to children without, but were still below goal,” Patadia said in a press release.

In addition, Patadia and colleagues noted that, among children with asthma, those aged older than 13 years or were black (P < .0001) exhibited significantly lower vaccination rates, while children receiving Medicaid and were Latino and Asian exhibited higher vaccination rates (P < .01).

“It’s important for kids with asthma to get an annual flu vaccine due to increased risk for complications with a serious infection like the flu,” Patadia said in the release. “We still have room for improvement in getting kids vaccinated against the flu.” — by Bob Stott

Reference:
Patadia D, et al. Abstract #P132. Presented at: American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting; Nov. 11-14, 2016; San Francisco, California.