Influenza vaccines are beneficial and harmless to copulated patients.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic airway disease. The prevalence of COPD in people aged 20 years and older in mainland China is 8.6%, and the prevalence of people aged 40 years and over is 13.7%, which estimates that the number of people affected in mainland China is close to 100 million1. CopD is estimated to be among the top three in the world in terms of mortality rates and the top five disease burdens in the world in 2020. As a key disease in the "Healthy China 2030" action plan, COPD's prevention and control situation is extremely severe1. Influenza can make COPD patients worse or even die, I don't believe you continue to look down.
Influenza viruses are common respiratory viruses that cause acute exacerbations of COPD, which increase the risk of death in patients
Epidemiological investigations have shown that upper respiratory tract viral infection is the earliest and most common cause of acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD), accounting for about 50%, and the common viruses are rhinovirus/enterovirus, influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus3. A mainland study included 81 patients with AECOPD to analyze the types of respiratory infections in the AECOPD phase and their effects on length of hospital stay and the COPD evaluation scale. The results showed that the infection rate of influenza virus reached 25.9% in all patients with AECOPD, and influenza virus is a common respiratory virus in patients with AECOPD4.
Fig. 1 Influenza virus is a common respiratory virus that triggers acute exacerbations of COPD4
Acute exacerbations occur about 0.5 to 3.5 times a year in patients with COPD, and AECOPD is an important factor in the death of patients with COPD5. A Canadian cohort study including 73,106 patients hospitalized for COPD for the first time from 1990 to 2005, followed up for 17 years, aimed to analyze the long-term profile of AECOPD over time and its relationship to mortality. The results showed that as the number of acute exacerbations of COPD increased, the risk of death in patients with COPD also increased6.
Figure 2 AECOPD increases the risk of death in patients with COPD6
Influenza vaccination to help manage COPD disease,
Protect the life and health of patients
Influenza vaccination reduces the risk of influenza-related acute respiratory illness (ARI) in people with COPD. A stratified randomized, double-blind, controlled study in Thailand, in which 125 patients with COPD were randomized into influenza vaccine groups (n=62) and placebo (n=63) between 1997 and 1998, aimed to determine the effectiveness of influenza vaccination against influenza-related ARI and overall ARI in PATIENTS with COPD, and its relationship to the degree of airflow obstruction. The results showed that influenza vaccination reduced the risk of influenza-related ARI in patients with COPD by 76%7.
Figure 3 Influenza vaccination in patients with COPD reduces the risk of influenza-related ARI7
Influenza vaccination reduces the risk of acute exacerbations in patients with COPD. A prospective study in India, which included 87 male patients with COPD who received outpatient treatment in 2004-2006, aimed to determine the effectiveness of influenza vaccination against ARI and acute exacerbations of COPD in patients with COPD. The results showed that influenza vaccination reduced the risk of acute exacerbation of ARI and COPD by 67% (P=0.005)8 in patients with COPD.
Influenza vaccination can reduce the incidence and frequency of acute exacerbations of COPD, the number of hospitalizations, the duration of illness and the length of hospital stay. A study in Shenzhen divided 104 elderly patients with COPD treated from January 2013 to February 2015 into influenza vaccine groups (n=52) and unvaccinated groups (n=52) to determine the effect of influenza vaccine on elderly COPD patients. The results showed that the incidence of acute exacerbations of COPD (57.69% vs 76.92%, P=0.037), the number of acute attacks (2.89 vs 4.94, P=0.000), and the number of hospitalizations (1.96 vs 3.48, P=0.000) were significantly lower than those in the unvaccinated group during the follow-up period, and the total course of acute COPD was shortened by 11 days and the total length of hospitalization was shortened by 14 days9. A cohort study in Chengdu selected 60 elderly patients with COPD from 2008 to 2009, and randomly divided them into influenza vaccine group and control group with influenza vaccine once a year, influenza vaccine group and control group with influenza vaccine twice a year, and followed up twice 3 months and 6 months after vaccination, to observe the occurrence of acute exacerbations of COPD and hospitalization in three groups, aiming to understand the effect of influenza vaccination in elderly COPD populations. The results showed that compared with the control group without influenza vaccination, the number of days of acute exacerbation hospitalization after 3 months and 6 months of vaccination decreased by 3.3 days and 7.1 days, respectively,10.
Figure 4 Influenza vaccination can reduce the number of acute exacerbations of COPD, the number of hospitalizations, shorten the duration of illness and the length of hospital stay9
Influenza vaccination reduces the risk of death in people with COPD. A British study selected data from 177,120 COPD patients in the Health Promotion Network database from 1988 to 2006, and divided the patients into four groups according to whether the patients had been vaccinated against influenza or pneumococcal vaccine: the unvaccinated group, the influenza vaccine group, the pneumococcal vaccine group, and the influenza and pneumococcal vaccine group, and analyzed the deaths of each group between December and March of the following year and 4 years to November of the following year. The aim was to determine the effectiveness of influenza vaccine and pneumococcal vaccination in the community population of COPD patients over an 18-year period. The results showed that influenza vaccination reduced the risk of death in COPD patients for 3 years from December to the following year11.
Figure 5 Influenza vaccination reduces the risk of death in patients with COPD11
CopD management guidelines/consensus agree on the benefits of influenza vaccines and recommend influenza vaccination for patients with COPD
In summary, the influenza vaccine is beneficial to COPD patients without harm. Therefore, medical staff may wish to recommend that COPD patients receive influenza vaccines in a timely manner in clinical work and work with COPD patients to do a good job in disease management.
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*This information is for medical and scientific reference only and does not constitute a recommendation or promotion of any drug or treatment regimen. The information contained in this article should not be a substitute for medical advice provided by healthcare professionals.
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