Published Mar 17, 2013

Pittsburgh, PA, USA - Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is a major cause of hospitalizations and death in the elderly population. Despite the widespread availability of an effective vaccine against IPD, vaccination rates in the elderly minority population remain low.  A national vaccination program to increase the number of elderly minorities receiving a widely recommended vaccine that prevents a serious form of pneumonia would likely be cost effective. In the study, “Cost-Effectiveness of a Program to Eliminate Disparities in Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates in Elderly Minority Populations: An Exploratory Analysis,” published in Value in Health, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine used a mathematical decision analysis model to predict the cost-effectiveness of a future national vaccination program to increase vaccination rates in elderly minorities. The results of this decision analysis model suggest that a national vaccination program to increase the number of elderly minorities receiving the vaccine against IPD would be cost-effective, preventing 853 hospitalizations and 134 deaths due to IPD over the lifetime of the 65 year old minority cohort in the United States. Kenneth J. Smith, MD, MS, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and lead author on the study, states, “"Underserved minority seniors receive pneumococcal vaccine less than seniors of other races, which is a serious problem. Our research suggests that these vaccination disparities can be overcome in an economically reasonable way."

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