Those who suffer from asthma are not getting their flu shots, according to a new report.
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), those who suffer from asthma are at an increased risk for serious flu complications. While for most people the flu means a few uncomfortable days in bed, the compromised immune system of somebody with asthma means the flu can lead to further issues and could even result in a trip to the hospital. But even with these potential risks, the report found that too few Americans with asthma are getting their yearly influenza vaccination and are putting their health in danger by not doing so. The flu has the ability to make asthma symptoms even worse.
“Although persons with asthma are not more likely than others to get influenza, influenza can make asthma symptoms worse, trigger asthma attacks, and lead to pneumonia or other complications that result in hospitalization and even death,” lead researcher Dr. Michael King of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health wrote in his findings.
The study found that during the 2010-2011 flu season, when the information was collected, flu shot rates among those with asthma were higher than those without it, but both groups are still well below goals set by the federal government. During this time frame, 50 percent of people with asthma received the shot, an increase from 36 percent in 2005-2006. Despite this increase, this is well below the target of vaccination coverage of 80 percent of all children aged 6-17 months and 90 percent of all adults set by the Healthy People 2020 initiative.
Given the relatively small sample size of the study (32,636 people), many believe more extensive research will need to be done to prove influenza’s affects on asthma.
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