Influenza, vaccination, uptake targets, public health, health protection, immunisation, surveillance, clinical risk groups
Introduction:
Immunisation against seasonal influenza is freely available for those aged 65y and older; and those aged 6m to 64y who are clinically at risk. An uptake target of 75% exists in Wales for both groups, which has not been achieved to date.
Aims:
To investigate how uptake varied according to age and clinical risk group for the 2012/13 seasonal influenza campaign in Wales.
Methods:
Immunisation data was automatically extracted directly from general practice using the Audit+ Data Quality System and Read codes specified by PRIMIS+. Data was provided by 83.7% (n=396) of
practices in Wales.
Results:
Uptake of influenza immunisation in contributing practices was 67.4% for those aged 65y and older, however uptake within this group varied by age: 62.9% in 65-75 year olds, 73.9% in 75-84 year olds and 70.1% in those aged
85y and older. In patients aged 6m to 64y at risk, overall uptake was 49.6%,
but ranged from 39.2% in chronic liver disease patients to 65.1% in diabetics.
Immunisation uptake generally increased with age in patients at
clinical risk, being lowest in 6-23 month olds (18.8%) and highest in those aged 75-84y (79.5%). Uptake in patients at clinical risk who were 65y and older exceeded 75%. Patients aged 75-84 years with immunosuppression were most likely to be immunised (81.8%).
Conclusions:
Despite the uptake target of 75% not being achieved overall, this analysis shows that uptake in some of the most
vulnerable patients, who are elderly
and at clinical risk, is reassuringly
high and exceeds the target.