Real-World Study Confirms RSV Vaccine's Protective Power for Seniors

October 18, 2024
Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter

A global real-world study of the vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) finds it offers folks aged 60 and over 80% protection against severe illness and/or hospitalization.

With U.S. vaccination rates falling, "I encourage older adults to follow CDC guidance and get vaccinated for RSV as we enter this year’s and every year’s respiratory disease season," said study co-author Dr. Shaun Grannis.

Grannis is vice president for data and analytics at the Regenstrief Institute and a professor of family medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

RSV has joined flu and COVID as a triumvirate of dangerous and common respiratory infections that can become serious, even life-threatening. There are very effective vaccines against all three viruses, however.

As noted in a Regenstrief news release, CDC data shows that, "in years prior to the availability of an RSV vaccine, an estimated 60,000 to 160,000 RSV-associated hospitalizations and 6,000 to 10,000 RSV-associated deaths occurred annually among U.S. adults aged 65 years and older."

The new findings are based on data supplied by some of America's biggest health care networks -- Permanente Northwest (Oregon and Washington), the University of Colorado (Colorado), Intermountain Healthcare (Utah), the Regenstrief Institute (Indiana), HealthPartners (Minnesota and Wisconsin), and Kaiser Permanente Northern California (California).

Altogether, they represent 230 hospitals and 245 emergency departments nationwide.

Overall, folks over 60 reduced their odds for RSV-linked severe illness, hospitalization, admission to the ICU and death by four-fifths, compared to similarly aged people who did not get vaccinated, the researchers said.

The benefit was especially plain among the most vulnerable age group, those aged 75 and older.

The new findings were published Oct. 18 in The Lancet.

"We were able to use the power of big data to determine RSV vaccine effectiveness, information [that is] needed to inform vaccine policy,” Grannis said.

Of course, “no vaccine is 100 percent effective," said study co-author Brian Dixon.

But, "an 80 percent vaccine effectiveness rate is quite impressive and higher than we see, for example, with the influenza vaccine,” noted Dixon, who is interim director and a research scientist with the Clem McDonald Center for Biomedical Informatics at Regenstrief.

Dixon added that, beyond saving lives, vaccination against RSV could save money.

"The annual cost of RSV hospitalization for adults in the U.S. is estimated to be between $1.2 and $5 billion," he noted. "Preventing up to 80 percent of hospitalizations could result in major savings for consumers and the health system.”

More information

Find out more about RSV at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCE: Regenstrief Institute, news release, Oct. 17, 2024

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