The 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine is effective in elderly adults over 75 years old--Taiwan's PPV vaccination program.
BACKGROUND
Pneumococcal infection is a serious cause of mortality and morbidity in the elderly. A nationwide pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) program for elderly adults aged 75 years and older was conducted in Taiwan in 2008. The efficacy of the PPV in this very elderly population was evaluated.


METHODS
The data were analyzed using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), the cause-of-death registration database and the invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) notification database of Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare. The efficacy of PPV administration in this very elderly population was evaluated using multivariate logistic regression after propensity score matching (PSM). The rates of IPD, death from IPD, pneumonia hospitalization, death from pneumonia, and all-cause mortality were compared for those who did and did not receive the PPV.


RESULTS
Among the 1078,955 eligible people, 318,257 (29.5%) received the PPV, and 760,698 (70.5%) were not vaccinated. Using PSM to adjust for confounding factors, including age, gender, influenza vaccination status, associated chronic diseases and health care utilization, those who received the PPV had significantly lower odds ratios (ORs) for IPD (OR=0.24, 95% CI=0.123-0.461, p<0.001), death from IPD (OR=0.09, 95% CI=0.011-0.704, p<0.022, p<0.001), pneumonia hospitalization (OR=0.40, 95% CI=0.395-0.415, p<0.001), death from pneumonia (OR=0.07, 95% CI=0.059-0.082, p<0.001), and all-cause mortality (OR=0.07, 95% CI=0.069-0.072, p<0.001) compared with those who were not vaccinated.


CONCLUSIONS
PPV vaccination in the previous year was associated with a 60% reduction in pneumonia hospitalization, a 76% reduction in IPD, and a greater than 90% reduction in death from pneumonia, IPD and all causes among people over 75 years old in Taiwan. Data from subsequent years in Taiwan and similar populations elsewhere are needed to evaluate the contribution of underlying variations in the mortality rate and the confounding effects of prior disease severity to these findings.
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Chiayi Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung Medical Foundation, Puzi City, Taiwan; Department of Respiratory Therapy, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Electronic address: chestmed@cgmh.org.tw.
Ying-Huang
YH
Tsai
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Chiayi Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung Medical Foundation, Puzi City, Taiwan; Department of Respiratory Therapy, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Meng-Jer
MJ
Hsieh
Clinical Informatics and Medical Statistics Research Center, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Chee-Jen
CJ
Chang
Clinical Informatics and Medical Statistics Research Center, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Yu-Wen
YW
Wen
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Linkou Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung Medical Foundation, Taoyuan City, Taiwan; Department of Respiratory Therapy, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Han-Chung
HC
Hu
Second Division of Centers for Disease Control, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei City, Taiwan.
Yen-Nan
YN
Chao
Department of Pediatrics, Linkou Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung Medical Foundation, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Yhu-Chering
YC
Huang
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Linkou Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung Medical Foundation, Taoyuan City, Taiwan; Department of Respiratory Therapy, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Cheng-Ta
CT
Yang
Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Linkou Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang-Gung Medical Foundation, Taoyuan City, Taiwan; Department of Respiratory Therapy, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Chung-Chi
CC
Huang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013624:Taiwan; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D064166:Vaccine Potency
C414006:23-valent pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines
Influenza vaccine; Invasive pneumococcal disease; Mortality; Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine; Pneumonia