Reduced hospitalizations and death associated with influenza vaccination among patients with and without diabetes.

Objective: To assess whether the influenza vaccination of community-dwelling, diabetic, elderly individuals is associated with reduced rates of hospitalization and death.

Research Design And Methods: In this outcome-research study, we compared mortality and hospitalization rates of 15,556 patients aged >or=65 years followed using a diabetes registry in a large health maintenance organization to that of 69,097 members not suffering from chronic disease who were considered as a reference group. The study outcomes included all-cause death and hospitalization in internal medicine or geriatric wards for any reason over winter and summer (control) periods.