PPV-23 vaccination evaluation of the elderly in a district of Shanghai

ObjectiveTo investigate the changes of serum antibody levels in the elderly after vaccination with 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV-23).

MethodsA multi-stage random sampling method was adopted to select 200 elderly native people over 60 years old from Shanghai who were vaccinated with PPV-23 vaccine.Serum antibody levels were detected and compared before and after vaccination at 1 month, 3 months and 6 months.

ResultsA total of 200 elderly people were investigated.Before vaccination, the positive rate of pneumococcal antibody was 9.00%.The positive rate of pneumococcal antibody in smokers was higher than that in non-smokers (χ²=5.81, P=0.02) and in those with asthma history were also significantly higher than in those without asthma history (χ²=2.40, P=0.01).The positive rates of pneumococcal antibodies in the elderly were 44.50%, 60.50% and 50.50% respectively 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after pneumonia vaccination, which were significantly higher than those before vaccination.The highest positive rate was found at 3 months after vaccination, which was higher than that at 1 month after vaccination (χ²=21.33, P < 0.001), and significantly higher than that at 6 months after vaccination (χ²=10.00, P=0.002).There was no significant difference in the positive rate of antibody between 1 month and 6 months after vaccination (χ²=2.77, P=0.10).There was no evidence to support the influence of age, sex, education, smoking, exercise and related diseases on pneumonia vaccine antibody level.

ConclusionPPV-23 vaccine can produce specific antibodies which can last for 6 months in the elderly.