Influenza vaccination for terminally ill @entity5 XXXX receiving palliative care: a preliminary report.

@entity5 @entity1 @entity281 @entity683
CONTEXT: @entity5 @entity1 have impaired humoral and cellular immunity, and are more susceptible to @entity281 ; their immunological response is expected to be less effective than that of healthy @entity1 . OBJECTIVES: To assess the immune response to @entity683 vaccine in terminally ill @entity5 @entity1 in a home palliative care unit. METHODS: During the fall of 2000-2001, 2005-2006, and 2006-2007, terminally ill @entity5 @entity1 treated by our home palliative care unit were vaccinated against @entity683 with Vaxigrip(  ). Blood samples were taken before and four weeks after vaccination. Influenza immunological response parameters accepted in the literature were calculated. RESULTS: Eighteen terminal @entity5 @entity1 were vaccinated against @entity683 strains predicted for that year; 13 completed the study. The other five @entity1 died within less than a month from the time of vaccination. The serum protection rate increased from 15.4% before to 61.5% after vaccination, and the serum response rate was 53.8% for all the three strains of vaccination. Mean-fold increase was 24.9 for @entity683 , 15.4 for @entity683 , and 2.8 for @entity683 B. Geometric mean titer was increased for @entity683 from 8.3 before vaccination to 159.4 after vaccination; for @entity683 from 5.2 to 124.3, and for @entity683 B from 5.7 to 44.6. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that @entity683 vaccination is probably effective and can be offered to terminally ill @entity5 @entity1 with a life expectancy of about three months in a home care palliative care unit.
