Home Health & Hospice Week

Your patients may receive better protection against pneumonia in the future, depending on the outcome of a National Institutes of Health-funded study. Researchers plan to see if a higher dose of a pneumococcal vaccine will create a stronger immune response in older adults who received an earlier generation vaccine against pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases. The trial will enroll up to 882 men and women ages 55 to 74.

A randomized clinical trial will test and compare three groups of patients, NIH says in a release; those who received the old vaccine (PPSV23 -- Pneumovax 23) three to seven years ago and a new lower dose of PPSV13 (Prevnar 13), those who received Pneumovax 23 three to seven years ago and a new higher dose of Prevnar 13, and those who did not receive Pneumovax 23, just the new lower dose of Prevnar 13.

"Earlier studies suggest that PCV13 may not induce as strong an immune response in older adults who previously received the PPSV23 vaccine within the past 5 years as in those who have not," the NIH notes.

The trials will take place at University of Iowa, Saint Louis University, Cincinnati Chil-dren's Hospital Medical Center-Infectious Disea-ses, Vanderbilt University's Vaccine Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, the NIH says in the release.