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Volume 18, Number 8—August 2012
CME ACTIVITY - Synopsis

Vaccination of Health Care Workers to Protect Patients at Increased Risk for Acute Respiratory Disease

Gayle P. DolanComments to Author , Rebecca M. Harris, Mandy Clarkson, Rachel Sokal, Gemma Morgan, Mitsuru Mukaigawara, Hiroshi Horiuchi, Rachel Hale, Laura Stormont, Laura Béchard-Evans, Yi-Sheng Chao, Sergey Eremin, Sara Martins, John S. Tam, Javier Peñalver, Arina Zanuzdana, and Jonathan S. Nguyen-Van-Tam

Author affiliations: University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK (G.P. Dolan, R. Hale, J.S. Nguyen-Van-Tam); World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (R.C. Harris, M. Mukaigawara, L. Stormont, Laura Béchard-Evans, Y.-S. Chao, S. Eremin, S. Martins, J.S. Tam, J. Peñalver); National Health Service Derbyshire County, Chesterfield, UK (M. Clarkson, R. Sokal); Health Protection Agency South West, Gloucester, UK (G. Morgan); Tokyo Medical Dental University, Tokyo, Japan (H. Horiuchi); and University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany (A. Zanuzdana)

Main Article

Table 3

Cases of and consultations for acute respiratory disease in a review of the vaccination of health care workers to protect patients at risk for acute respiratory disease*

Outcome measure (study) Study design Method of assessment Measure of effect in patient population Effect estimate (95% CI)
Clinically defined episodes of viral illness (Potter et al. [25])
 Cluster RCT
 Not defined. No. episodes recorded by study nurses.
 OR, nonvaccinated and vaccinated patients 0.64 (0.48–0.87)
OR, vaccinated patients 0.40 (0.26–0.62)
OR, nonvaccinated patients
 0.98 (0.65–1.48)
Lower respiratory tract infection
Potter et al. (25) Cluster RCT Defined as 1) pulmonary crackles, wheeze, or tachypnea plus temperature >37.0°C or leukocyte count >10 × 109/L or 2) a positive sputum culture. No. episodes recorded by study nurses. OR, nonvaccinated and vaccinated patients 0.69 (0.40–1.19)
OR, vaccinated patients 0.59 (0.25–1.38)
OR, nonvaccinated patients 0.77 (0.38–1.57)
Thomas et al. (19) Pooled data OR, adjusted for clustering 0.71 (0.29–1.71)†

*RCT, randomized controlled trial; OR, odds ratio. Boldface indicates statistical significance.
†p = 0.44. p value not reported for other categories.

Main Article

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