Vaccination rates in cochlear implant patients: a review of paediatric recipients

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to investigate whether children with cochlear implants received the recommended vaccinations according to New Zealand national immunisation guidelines and to report the incidence of meningitis in this population after intervention. Method A retrospective review of the vaccination coverage of paediatric patients receiving cochlear implants between 2005 and 2019 was performed. Results Data were collected on 203 children. Evidence of immunisation against Haemophilus influenza B was documented in 94.1 per cent of this cohort and 21.2 per cent received the seasonal influenza vaccine. The pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was fully administered in 81.8 per cent of children; however, only 16.9 per cent of eligible children had received the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. There was marked improvement in compliance to the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine once it became fully funded for cochlear implant patients. Conclusion Despite established guidelines, the paediatric vaccination rates were less than expected. Work is in progress to address this.

Improving Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates in Cochlear Implant Programs: A Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis

“…A full-text review of the remaining reports excluded 10 studies, leaving 13 studies for inclusion in the final data extraction and analysis. Three studies were retrospective cohort studies, [22][23][24] 4 studies were retrospective case series, [25][26][27][28] and 6 were cross-sectional studies. [29][30][31][32][33][34]…”

“…Of the 13 studies included in our analysis, only 2 included a stratification of CI patients by etiology of hearing loss, 25,28 and only 1 study stratified patients by race. 26 It would be of interest for future prospective studies to report additional demographic factors such as etiology, race, insurance status, and income level, to analyze as possible correlates to baseline pneumococcal vaccination uptake. This may prove to provide useful findings in the process of tailoring an intervention to overcome existing barriers to vaccination in the high-risk CI patient population.…”

“…In New Zealand, the pneumococcal vaccinations were not fully funded until 2008, at which time a rise in vaccination uptake occurred 43 . One New Zealand study included in our analysis contained vaccination data from 2005 to 2019, inclusive of the time period prior to as well as after the introduction of funding 26 . Another potential source of heterogeneity that we were unable to analyze was the variability among academic vs private office settings in which these studies occurred.…”

“…43 One New Zealand study included in our analysis contained vaccination data from 2005 to 2019, inclusive of the time period prior to as well as after the introduction of funding. 26 Another potential source of heterogeneity that we were unable to analyze was the variability among academic vs private office settings in which these studies occurred. It would be of interest for future prospective studies to consider additional factors such as office setting and level of funding, as well as to report rates more uniformly among age-specific cohorts in order to most adequately compare data.…”

“…Finally, a lack of reported patient demographics available for analysis was an additional limitation of this study. Of the 13 studies included in our analysis, only 2 included a stratification of CI patients by etiology of hearing loss, 25,28 and only 1 study stratified patients by race 26 . It would be of interest for future prospective studies to report additional demographic factors such as etiology, race, insurance status, and income level, to analyze as possible correlates to baseline pneumococcal vaccination uptake.…”