The Dutch influenza vaccination policy and medication use, outpatient visits, hospitalization and mortality at age 65

Abstract Background Our objective was to obtain estimates of the impact of the Dutch vaccination programme on medication use, outpatient visits, hospitalization and mortality at age 65. Methods We linked population-wide mortality, hospitalization and municipality registries to identify influenza-related deaths and hospitalizations, and used health interview surveys to identify medication use and outpatient visits during 1996–2008. We applied a regression discontinuity design to estimate the intention-to-treat effect of the personal invitation for a free influenza vaccination sent to every Dutc... Mehr ...