INFORMATION:
Additional co-authors on this study are Chyongchiou Jeng Lin, Ph.D., Stacey Saracco, R.N., and Roberta M. Churilla, R.N., C.R.N.P., all of Pitt; and Ted M. Ross, Ph.D., of the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida.
In addition to the grant from Sanofi Pasteur, funding for this study was provided by the University of Pittsburgh Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center through National Institutes of Health grant P30 AG024827.
About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support.
Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www.medschool.pitt.edu.
http://www.upmc.com/media
Contact: Allison Hydzik
Phone: 412-647-9975
E-mail: HydzikAM@upmc.edu
Contact: Ashley Trentrock
Phone: 412-586-9776
E-mail: TrentrockAR@upmc.edu
High-dose flu vaccine superior for frail elderly living in long-term care facilities
2014-12-18
(Press-News.org) PITTSBURGH, Dec. 18, 2014 - The high-dose flu vaccine is significantly better than the regular flu shot at boosting the immune response to the flu virus in frail, older residents of long-term care facilities, according to the results of a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study.
It is the first evaluation of the vaccine in long-term care residents, which is the population most vulnerable to flu-related death. The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and funded by vaccine-maker Sanofi Pasteur, found that - with the exception of one strain of flu circulating in the 2012-2013 season - the high dose flu vaccine helped participants mount a better immune response to influenza than the standard flu shot.
"The elderly living in long-term care facilities have higher influenza exposure risks, lower immune defenses and a much greater likelihood of flu-related death than the general population," said lead author David A. Nace, M.D., M.P.H., director of long-term care and flu programs in Pitt's Division of Geriatric Medicine and chief medical officer for UPMC Senior Communities. "For these reasons, we need more effective flu vaccine options for frail, older adults."
Each year in the U.S., there are 3,000 to 49,000 influenza-associated deaths, with over 90 percent reported among people aged 65 years and older, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mortality is 16-fold higher among those 85 years old compared to those 65 to 69 years. Although the influenza vaccine is the best defense against the flu, it is not 100 percent effective. Among the elderly population, clinical efficacy of the standard vaccine is reduced by 17 to 60 percent.
"In a separate randomized controlled trial of community-dwelling adults 65 years of age and older, Fluzone High-Dose vaccine induced higher immune responses and provided superior protection against laboratory-confirmed influenza illness compared with standard-dose influenza vaccine," said David P. Greenberg, M.D., vice president of scientific and medical affairs and chief medical officer at Sanofi Pasteur U.S., the makers of Fluzone High-Dose. "We are pleased to see the results of this new randomized study demonstrating that the higher immune response to Fluzone High-Dose vaccine extends to frail, older residents of long-term care facilities."
In December 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration licensed trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine - Sanofi Pasteur's Fluzone High-Dose - specifically designed for people 65 years and older. The high-dose contains four times the antigen of regular shots. Antigen is the part of a vaccine that prompts the immune system to make antibodies against flu.
During the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 flu seasons, Dr. Nace and his colleagues followed 187 people with an average age of 86.7 years living in 15 community-based, long-term care sites in western Pennsylvania, including nursing facilities, assisted or personal care homes, and independent living facilities. To ensure they were among the frail population most vulnerable to flu, only people who needed full or partial assistance in at least one daily self-care activity, such as dressing or grooming, were included.
Participants were randomly selected to receive either a high-dose or standard flu shot at the beginning of the flu season. They were then tested for their antibody response 30 and 180 days after receiving the flu shot. This helped doctors determine how much the vaccine prepared participants' immune systems for the flu virus and also how much that protection waned by the end of the flu season.
Both the high-dose and standard flu vaccines contain inactivated versions of the three influenza strains that world health officials determine most likely to be circulating in a given flu season.
At 30 days and again at 180 days, the immune response was greater for high-dose compared to the standard vaccine for all the flu strains in both seasons, except strain A/H1N1 in the 2012-2013 season. The researchers noted that A/H1N1 was identical in both seasons, and 26 percent of participants took part in the study both seasons, something that might have caused the lower generation of antibodies to the strain in the second season.
"Historically, the protection from regular influenza vaccine among seniors has been moderate," said senior author Richard K. Zimmerman, M.D., M.P.H., professor in Pitt's Department of Family Medicine. "Now an option with better immunologic protection is available, as our study shows."
The trial did not evaluate whether fewer of the high-dose recipients actually contracted the flu than those receiving the standard vaccine.
"The high-dose vaccine is not a guarantee against contracting the flu, even though it significantly decreases the likelihood," said Dr. Nace. "That is why it is so important to take a 'bundled approach' to preventing flu in long-term care facilities, including vaccination of health care workers, asking people with flu-like illness not to visit residents, practicing proper cough etiquette and hand hygiene, and frequent sanitation of commonly used areas and equipment."
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Laparoscopic surgery for bladder cancer leads to good long-term cancer control
2014-12-18
Long-term survival rates following laparoscopic surgery for bladder cancer are comparable to those of open surgery, according to a study published in BJU International. The findings, which come from the largest study to date with long-term follow-up after this type of minimally invasive surgery, indicate that prospective randomized trials comparing these two bladder cancer surgeries are warranted.
Open radical cystectomy, or removal of the bladder though open surgery, is the treatment of choice for muscle invasive and high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer; however, ...
New evidence shows electronic cigarettes facilitate smoking cessation
2014-12-18
Do electronic cigarettes help smokers to quit? Yes, but....
New Cochrane review finds emerging evidence that smokers who use electronic cigarettes can stop or reduce their smoking.
The first Cochrane review on this subject published today in the Cochrane Library gives some early insights in to electronic cigarettes as an aid to stopping smoking and reducing consumption. The review draws on two randomised trials and found that while nicotine containing electronic cigarettes were more effective than electronic cigarettes without nicotine (placebo) in helping smokers ...
Researcher to cancer: 'Resistance will be futile'
2014-12-18
Turning the tables, Katherine Borden at the University of Montreal's Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) has evoked Star Trek's Borg in her fight against the disease. "Cancer cells rapidly evolve a multitude of defense mechanisms to evade the effects of the oncologist's drug arsenal. Unfortunately, clinical strategies to overcome these lag far behind," Borden explained. "This mismatch likely underlies our inability to implement new durable treatment strategies." However, in her paper published in Cancer Research entitled "When will resistance be futile?", ...
New hope for rare disease drug development
2014-12-18
Using combinations of well-known approved drugs has for the first time been shown to be potentially safe in treating a rare disease, according to the results of a clinical trial published in the open access Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. The study also shows some promising preliminary results for the efficacy of the drug combination.
Drug development can take decades to bring safe and effective treatments to patients. Re-use of existing drugs for new purposes is of considerable interest due to its potential to save time and resources, and help circumvent the low amount ...
Life expectancy increases globally as death toll falls from major diseases
2014-12-18
SEATTLE--People are living much longer worldwide than they were two decades ago, as death rates from infectious diseases and cardiovascular disease have fallen, according to a new, first-ever journal publication of country-specific cause-of-death data for 188 countries.
Causes of death vary widely by country, but, at the global level, drug use disorders and chronic kidney disease account for some of the largest percent increases in premature deaths since 1990. Death rates from some cancers, including pancreatic cancer and kidney cancer, also increased. At the same time, ...
The Lancet: World population gains more than 6 years of life expectancy since 1990
2014-12-18
Global life expectancy increased by 5.8 years in men and 6.6 years in women between 1990 and 2013, according to a major new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013).
However, some causes of death ran counter to these trends and have seen increased rates of death [1] since 1990, including: liver cancer caused by hepatitis C (up by 125%), atrial fibrillation and flutter (serious disorders of heart rhythm; up by 100%), drug use disorders (up by 63%), chronic kidney disease (up by 37%), sickle cell disorders (up by 29%), diabetes (up by 9%), and pancreatic ...
Big data may be fashion industry's next must-have accessory
2014-12-18
Big data may be the next new thing to hit the fashion industry's runways, according to a team of researchers.
By analyzing relevant words and phrases from fashion reviews, researchers were able to identify a network of influence among major designers and track how those style trends moved through the industry, said Heng Xu, associate professor of information sciences and technology, Penn State.
"Data analytics, which is the idea that large amounts of data are becoming more available for finding patterns, establishing correlations and identifying emerging trends, is ...
Migraine may double risk for facial paralysis
2014-12-17
MINNEAPOLIS - Migraine headache may double the risk of a nervous system condition that causes facial paralysis, called Bell's palsy, according to a new study published in the December 17, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Bell's palsy affects between 11 and 40 per 100,000 people each year. Most people with Bell's palsy recover completely. Headaches are the most common disorder of the nervous system and affect about 12 percent of the US population.
"This is a very new association between migraine and Bell's ...
High fitness level reduces chance of developing hypertension
2014-12-17
People with the highest fitness levels are less likely to develop hypertension, according to new research in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
"If you're exercising and you're fit, your chances of developing hypertension are much less than someone else who has the same characteristics but isn't fit," said Mouaz H. Al-Mallah, M.D., senior author of the study and a cardiologist at the Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute in Detroit, Michigan. "Increasing exercise and fitness levels probably protects against many diseases."
More than 57,000 participants ...
Airline pilots can be exposed to cockpit radiation similar to tanning beds
2014-12-17
Airline pilots can be exposed to the same amount of UV-A radiation as that from a tanning bed session because airplane windshields do not completely block UV-A radiation, according to a research letter published online by JAMA Dermatology.
Airplane windshields are commonly made of polycarbonate plastic or multilayer composite glass. UV-A radiation can cause DNA damage in cells and its role in melanoma is well known, according to the article.
Author Martina Sanlorenzo, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and co-authors measured the amount of UV radiation ...