Grant: Operating Grant

Current guidelines recommend that patients with diabetes receive influenza vaccination every year. Since vaccination is already recommended for elderly (over 65) adults, these guidelines effectively single out non-elderly, diabetic adults for vaccination. Despite these guidelines, vaccination rates remain below national goals. More importantly, the guidelines themselves assume that patients with diabetes develop influenza more frequently, or have more severe complications after influenza, compared to those without diabetes. The evidence currently available to support these claims is weak. We will perform three studies using population-based health records in Manitoba. First, we will examine the factors affecting whether patients with diabetes get vaccinated. Second, we will determine whether patients with diabetes are more likely to present with influenza than patients without diabetes. Third, among people who have an influenza-like illness, we will compare the rates of hospitalization and death, in those who have diabetes, and those who do not. The second and third questions will help us to understand whether patients with diabetes should truly be a "high risk" group for vaccination. If the risk is not greater in younger adults with diabetes, substantial resources may be spent improving vaccination rates among these patients when they could be better spent on other priority groups. In addition to contributing to our knowledge of diabetes and influenza, these studies will help determine if and how current vaccination programs should be improved.