Risk of Death in Nursing Home Residents After COVID-19 Vaccination.
Fenne Wouters, Anouk M van Loon, Jeanine J S Rutten and 3 others
PMID 36113605WHAT IT FOUND
Nursing home residents vaccinated in 2021 had a lower 30-day death risk than residents in 2019.
Because the comparison was before the pandemic, this cannot show the vaccine caused the lower risk.
Key findings
01Death within 30 days was reported in 2.6% of residents with at least one vaccination, 1.9% with two vaccinations, and 3.6% in the historical comparison group.
02After adjustment, residents with at least one vaccination had a lower death risk than the historical comparison group (adjusted hazard ratio 0.77), and residents with two vaccinations had a lower death risk (adjusted hazard ratio 0.57).
03After at least one vaccination, lower death risk was statistically significant only in psychogeriatric care; after two vaccinations, lower death risk was statistically significant in psychogeriatric, somatic, and rehabilitation or short-term residential care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The comparison group was from 2019, not nonvaccinated residents in 2021, so pandemic infection-control measures and changed living conditions could explain the lower death risk. Vaccinated residents may have been less vulnerable because they survived until vaccination or were not vaccinated if very frail. Vaccination registration was incomplete in some nursing homes, so researchers could not define a nonvaccinated 2021 control group. Analyses adjusted for age, gender, dementia, kidney failure, Parkinson's disease, and length of stay, but not environmental factors or living conditions. Results apply only to Dutch nursing home residents. The study measured death within 30 days; it did not report other vaccine adverse events or whether vaccination prevented infection.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding source are stated in the supplied text; publication types indicate non-U.S. government support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the lower 30-day death risk as proof that COVID-19 vaccination caused the reduction or that the vaccine is fully safe. The vaccinated group was compared with residents from 2019, not with nonvaccinated residents in 2021, and pandemic infection-control measures or healthier vaccinated residents could explain the difference.