title: Economic value of influenza vaccination.
abstract: Influenza epidemics are responsible for high mortality and morbidity rates in particular among elderly and high risk groups. This review is aimed at assessing the economic value of vaccination in these groups. A search of full economic evaluations of influenza vaccination in comparison with no interventions was performed on PubMed from January 1990 to May 2011. Only economic evaluations dealing with elderly and high risk groups were considered. The quality of selected articles was assessed through Drummond's checklist. Sixteen cost-effectiveness analyses and four cost-benefit analyses were included: overall, the quality of studies was fairly good. The vaccination was demonstrated to be cost-effective or cost-saving in almost all studies, independently by the perspective and the type of analysis. Influenza vaccination is a worthwhile intervention from the pharmacoeconomic view-point, anyway a standardization of methods should be desirable in order to guarantee the comparability and transferability of results.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. chiara.dewaure@rm.unicatt.it
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Waure
authors.forename: Maria Assunta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Veneziano
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cadeddu
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capizzi
authors.forename: Maria Lucia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Specchia
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capri
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D012306:Risk; D014611:Vaccination / Q000191:economics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines