A recent Cleveland Clinic study has shown that young adults can help protect their parents, or other elderly people, from contracting influenza simply by being vaccinated.
NBC news reports that the study led by Dr. Glen Taksler, PhD., has found that people over the age of 65 were less likely to be sick with influenza when a third of the young adults surrounding them in the community are vaccinated against the illness.
"Our findings suggest that flu vaccination should be encouraged among low-risk adults not just for their own benefit, but also for the benefit of higher risk adults in their community, such as the elderly," said Dr. Taksler.
The study was reported in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Taksler and his team studied county-by-county data from eight seasons of influenza, involving 3.3 million Medicare beneficiaries, between 2002 and 2010.
It was found that rates of influenza related illnesses among the elderly dropped a significant 21 percent when 31 percent of young adults in a community were vaccinated.
"We found that the elderly had 21 percent lower odds of developing influenza if they lived in areas where more nonelderly adults (people aged 18-64 years old) got a flu vaccine," Taksler said in an interview with Medical Research.
DailyRx adds that the researchers call this effect "herd immunity," meaning, high-risk unvaccinated people are protected from contracting the illness because they are surrounded by healthy, vaccinated individuals.
With the elderly having more serious flu complications due to a weakened immune system, elderly people would be most benefited by herd immunity. Flu vaccines are also reportedly not as effective in the elderly as those in younger age groups.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "flu causes millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths every season." The elderly, the young children, and people with certain health conditions are at high-risk of contracting the illness.
Family medicine physician Jane Sadler, MD, from Baylor Medical Center at Garland, TX, told dailyRx:
"The flu shot saves lives and reduces hospitalizations," said Dr. Sadler.
"The flu shot reduced children's risk of ICU (intensive care unit) admissions by 74 percent during flu seasons 2010-2012. Another study demonstrated a decline in flu-related hospitalizations among adults of all ages during the 2011-2012 flu seasons (CDC)."
"Our study suggests that adults who have contact with the elderly should make a particular effort to receive an influenza vaccine," Dr. Taksler told Medical Research. "This includes both people who have elderly relatives in their households and people who have routine contact with the elderly."
