Does Statin Use Affect Flu Vaccination Effectiveness?

Statin therapy does not affect outcomes among older individuals receiving the influenza vaccine, according to new research published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Using Medicare data, the researchers identified individuals aged older than 65 years who had received high-dose or standard-dose influenza vaccines from the 2010-2011 season through the 2014-2015 season.

A total of 1,403,651 statin users were matched by vaccine type, demographics, prior medical encounters, and comorbidities to nonusers.

The associations between statin use around the time of vaccination and the risk for influenza-related encounters were estimated via multivariable Poisson models.

Results showed similar adjusted relative risks for influenza-related office visits and hospitalizations (1.086 vs 1.096).

Depending on season severity, the risk difference for office visits ranged from –0.02 to 0.23 and for hospitalizations ranged from –0.04 to 0.13.

No differences were seen between individuals who had received high-dose or standard-dose vaccines or between those taking nonsynthetic or synthetic statins.

“Among 2.8 million Medicare beneficiaries, these results suggest that statin use around the time of vaccination does not substantially affect the risk of influenza-related medical encounters among older adults,” the researchers concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

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