Influenza Vaccination and Other Factors Related to the Development of Influenza-Like Illness Among Patients on Chronic Hemodialysis in a Japanese Dialysis Facility

The present study was conducted to evaluate the protective effect of seasonal influenza vaccination on the development of influenza‐like illness (ILI), as well as to investigate factors related to the development of ILI among patients in a Japanese dialysis facility. One hundred eighty‐three hemodialysis (HD) patients were followed up from November 2008 to March 2009. During the follow‐up period, 17 patients developed ILI. We compared the characteristics of these 17 patients to patients without ILI. Compared to the non‐ILI group (N = 166), the ILI group (N = 17) showed a non‐significantly lower rate of influenza vaccination (70.6% vs. 86.7%, P = 0.07), while any other factor did not differ between the two groups. Influenza vaccination tended to reduce the risk of ILI (Odds ratio = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.12 to 1.14, P = 0.07). The findings of the present study suggested that the influenza vaccine was 60% effective to prevent ILI among HD patients, although the effectiveness was not statistically significant.