20 Oct PCV13 Vaccine Markedly Protects Elderly Against Community Acquired Pneumonia

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: 
Dr. Susanne Huijts
Research Physician at UMCU Julius Center for Health Sciences Pulmonary resident, UMC Utrecht Center
Utrecht, Netherlands

Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Huijts: The CAPiTA trial evaluated the efficacy of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) in adults of 65 years and older. In the per protocol analysis vaccine efficacy of 45.6% was demonstrated for the first episode vaccine type (VT) pneumococcal community acquired pneumonia (CAP); 45.0% for the first episode of non-bacteremic/ non-invasive (NB/NI) VT-CAP, and 75.0% for the first episode of VT-invasive pneumococcal disease.

Medical Research: What was most surprising about the results?

Dr. Huijts: CAPiTA is the first study to demonstrate the efficacy of pneumococcal vaccination for prevention of VT NB/NI pneumococcal community acquired pneumonia in older adults.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Huijts: PCV13 immunization in patients of 65 years and older prevents 45% against vaccine-type community acquired pneumonia  (VT-CAP) and 75% against VT-IPD.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Huijts: The population evaluated in the CAPiTA trial concerned a relatively healthy population, so further evaluation of the impact of vaccinating less healthy subjects would be interesting. Furthermore there’s much discussion about the impact of vaccinating young children with PCV13 on the epidemiology of circulating PCV13-serotypes because this might influence the overall impact of immunizing (all) adults with PCV13. This will vary per country and therefore every country should monitor the local serotype-distribution.

Citation:
Community Acquired Pneumonia Immunization Trial In Adults (CAPITA)

Marc Bonten, MD PhD^1,2, Susanne M Huijts, MD², Marieke Bolkenbaas, MD², Chris Webber, MD, PhD³, Samantha Gault, Msc³, William Gruber, MD⁴, Scott D. Patterson, PhD⁵, Diederick E. Grobbee, MD, PhD^2,6 and CAPiTA study team, (1)Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, (2)Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, (3)Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research, Maidenhead, United Kingdom, (4)Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research, Pearl River, NY, (5)Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research, Collegeville, PA, (6)Julius Clinical, Zeist, Netherlands

ID Week 2014
Session: Oral Abstract Session: Adult Vaccines

Friday, October 10, 2014: 8:30 AM

Last Updated on October 20, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD