The Association between Seasonal Influenza Vaccination and Hospital Admission due to Severe Hypoglycaemia among Diabetic Elderly patients followed up in Primary Care Clinics

Abstract Description

Authors (including presenting author) :

TK Chu(1), KC Wong(1), J Liang(1)

Affiliation :

(1)Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, New Territories West Cluster, The Hospital Authority

Introduction :

Admission or Accident & emergency attendance due to severe hypoglycaemia causes significance morbidity to DM patients and increase the burden of secondary care.

Objectives :

To investigate any association between seasonal influenza vaccination (2017/18) status, number of attendances in the Accident and Emergency Department, and number of unplanned hospital admission during the influenza season period (1 Nov 2017 to 31 Mar 2018) among diabetic patients age 65 or above in primary care.

Methodology :

A retrospective review of electronic medical records of diabetic patients aged 65 or above followed up in 8 primary care clinics in the period from 1 Jan 2017 to 31 Mar 2018 was done. Besides the above outcome parameters, demographic and clinical data, such as gender and age, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, use of insulin and oral hypoglycemia agents, biochemical parameters such as HbA1c and LDL, were collected.

Result & Outcome :

There were 19,276 diabetic patients followed up in the 8 primary care clinics during the period, 9,783 (50.8%) of them had received 2017/18 influenza vaccination. The characteristics between vaccinated and unvaccinated group were compared (Table 1). Both in univariate analysis and multivariate analysis after adjusting age, HbA1c, and use of insulin or hypoglycaemic agents, seasonal influenza vaccination was associated with a lower risk for attending the Accident and Emergency Department with Adjusted Odd Ratio (AOR) of 0.562 (95 CI: 0.362, 0.872, p=0.016) and a lower risk of unplanned hospital admission with AOR of 0.439 (95%CI: 0.244, 0.791, p=0.034). Conclusion: Seasonal influenza vaccination may reduce the number of unplanned hospital admission and Accident and Emergency Department attendance due to severe hypoglycaemia among diabetic patients followed up in Primary Care Clinics.