Despite risk, asthma patients not getting flu shots

NEW YORK Results of the 2006 National Health Interview Survey published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report this week have shown that most asthma patients don’t get flu shots despite being at greater risk of complications from influenza.

The study, which looked at 1,248 respondents to the survey, found that 36 percent of respondents received flu shots between September 2005 and February 2006. Further, 38 percent of respondents who had experienced asthma attacks in the previous year, and 42 percent whose attacks required hospitalization, received the shots.

In children with asthma, vaccination rates were 30 percent, while they were 80 percent in patients 65 and older.

The study suggested that more be done to increase vaccine coverage in people with high-risk conditions.