Abstract

BackgroundTrivalent Influenza Virus Vaccine (FLU3) is a traditional flu vaccine to protect people against three different flu viruses, including influenza A H1N1 virus, an influenza A H3N2 virus and one B virus.MethodsWe searched Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) for US reports after FLU3 vaccination in the year of 2011. We conducted descriptive analyses on symptoms from serious reports (i.e., death, life-threatening illness, hospitalization, prolonged hospitalization, or permanent disability). We then further grouped these symptoms to the System Organ Classes (SOC) based on the MedDRA Terminology using NCBO Web Services. We fitted zero-truncated Poisson regression models to estimate the average number of symptoms per subject and compared it across different age groups and between genders. In addition, we compared the risk of occurrence for an SOC across different age groups and between genders by using logistic regression models. Finally, we constructed the pairwise correlation matrix of the SOCs by calculating Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients.ResultsWe identified 638 unique serious FLU3 reports from year 2011. There are 1410 unique symptoms from these reports. Descriptive statistics shows that the most common symptom and symptom pair are Pyrexia and Guillain-Barre syndrome – Hypoesthesia respectively. The estimated average number of symptoms per subject in the study cohort is 8.74 (95 % CI 6.76, 10.73). There are statistically significant differences in number of symptoms among four age groups and between genders. Age category and gender are significantly associated with several individual SOCs. Pairwise correlation matrix shows that “Endocrine disorders” and “Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps)” are strongly correlated.ConclusionsThis paper reports a novel method that combining statistical analyses with terminology grouping using VAERS data. The analyses revealed differences of reactions among different age groups and between genders and correlation on both symptoms and System Organ Class level independently. The results may lead to additional studies to uncover factors contributing to the individual differences in susceptibility to influenza infection. This method can also be applied to other vaccine types and conduct similar analysis.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13326-016-0056-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

  • Trivalent Influenza Virus Vaccine (FLU3) is a traditional flu vaccine to protect people against three different flu viruses, including influenza A H1N1 virus, an influenza A H3N2 virus and one B virus

  • VAERSSYMPTOMS is about symptoms that are equivalent to the Preferred Term (PT) TERM from the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) codebook

  • To facilitate further statistical analyses, we further grouped these symptoms based on the MedDRA System Organ Classes (SOC) using the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO) Web Services [11]

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Trivalent Influenza Virus Vaccine (FLU3) is a traditional flu vaccine to protect people against three different flu viruses, including influenza A H1N1 virus, an influenza A H3N2 virus and one B virus. Influenza (flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses, which may cause mild to severe illness including hospitalization or even death. Certain groups of people, such as the elders, young children, and those with certain health conditions, are at high risk for serious flu complications [1]. Hundreds of millions of Americans have received seasonal influenza vaccines to protect themselves against the flu viruses. The side effects following flu vaccinations are mild, including symptoms such as soreness, redness or swelling at the injection sites, headache, muscle aches and nausea after the shot. Could happen, which may cause some life-threating illness even death

Methods
Results
Conclusion

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.