ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at high-risk of complications from influenza and should receive an influenza vaccination seasonally. Despite this recommendation, vaccination rates remain suboptimal. Boston Medical Center (BMC) previously achieved high influenza vaccination rates among its pediatric patients with SCD. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this high vaccination rate has been maintained and whether it has influenced outcome measures. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart review was conducted in the hematology clinic at an urban, academic medical center. Fisher's exact test and the independent samples t test were used to determine if there were any significant differences in characteristics between patients with influenza and patients without influenza, as well as between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients. Influenza vaccination rate, influenza-related hospitalization rate, and influenza-positive rate were collected and compared with reported rates. RESULTS: Data from 124 pediatric patients with SCD were examined. The influenza vaccination rate for pediatric patients with SCD at BMC (90.32%) was higher than previous studies that were not conducted at BMC, while BMC's influenza-related hospitalization rate (0) and influenza-positive rate (4.84%) were lower than other studies. Subjects who contracted influenza were younger than those who did not (4.67 vs. 10.03 y, P=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: BMC has maintained a high influenza vaccination rate among pediatric patients with SCD. BMC's vaccination strategy has been successful at improving outcome measures including rates of influenza and influenza hospitalizations without requiring additional staff. Such efforts should be replicated at other centers.