SynthesisBMJ open2016
Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers in the UK: appraisal of systematic reviews and policy options.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seasonal influenza vaccination of healthcare workers: systematic review of qualitative evidence.BMC health services research · 2017Pooled it
- Patterns and Predictors of Influenza Vaccination Uptake Among Healthcare Personnel in Kuwait: A Nationwide Multi-Season Study.Vaccines · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic and Occupational Factors Associated With COVID-19 Vaccine and Influenza Vaccine Uptake Among Healthcare Workers, in Albania, 2022-2023: A Multicenter Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025Article
- Bioaerosols and Airborne Transmission in the Dental Clinic.International dental journal · 2024Review
- Influenza vaccination from the perspective of health care workers at university hospitals.PloS one · 2023Observational
- Article
- Seasonal influenza vaccination of healthcare workers: a narrative review.International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health · 2022Review
- Incidence of Influenza Virus Infection among Wroclaw's Healthcare Workers in Pre-COVID-19 2019-2020 Influenza Season Using Novel Flu SensDx Device.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Influenza Vaccination Coverage, Motivators for, and Barriers to Influenza Vaccination among Healthcare Workers in Wroclaw, Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Observational
- Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to influenza and influenza vaccine among healthcare workers in Chongqing, China-a cross-sectional study.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2021Article
- Influenza vaccination: protecting the most vulnerable.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2021Review
- Article
- An Internet-Based Survey of Influenza Vaccination Coverage in Healthcare Workers in China, 2018/2019 Season.Vaccines · 2019Article
- A rapid evidence appraisal of influenza vaccination in health workers: An important policy in an area of imperfect evidence.Vaccine: X · 2019Review
- Prevalence of seasonal influenza vaccination among primary healthcare workers in Arar city, Saudi Arabia.Electronic physician · 2018Article
- Seasonal Influenza Vaccination in Health Care Workers. A Pre-Post Intervention Study in an Italian Paediatric Hospital.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
- Influenza vaccination in healthcare workers: A comprehensive critical appraisal of the literature.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2018Review
- Healthcare worker influenza vaccination and sickness absence - an ecological study.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2017Article
- Influenza.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe UK Department of Health recommends annual influenza vaccination for healthcare workers, but uptake remains low. For staff, there is uncertainty about the rationale for vaccination and evidence underpinning the recommendation.
objectivesTo clarify the rationale, and evidence base, for influenza vaccination of healthcare workers from the occupational health, employer and patient safety perspectives.
designSystematic appraisal of published systematic reviews.
resultsThe quality of the 11 included reviews was variable; some included exactly the same trials but made conflicting recommendations. 3 reviews assessed vaccine effects in healthcare workers and found 1 trial reporting a vaccine efficacy (VE) of 88%. 6 reviews assessed vaccine effects in healthy adults, and VE was consistent with a median of 62% (95% CI 56 to 67). 2 reviews assessed effects on working days lost in healthcare workers (3 trials), and 3 reported effects in healthy adults (4 trials). The meta-analyses presented by the most recent reviews do not reach standard levels of statistical significance, but may be misleading as individual trials suggest benefit with wide variation in size of effect. The 2013 Cochrane review reported absolute effects close to 0 for laboratory-confirmed influenza, and hospitalisation for patients, but excluded data on clinically suspected influenza and all-cause mortality, which had shown potentially important effects in previous editions. A more recent systematic review reports these effects as a 42% reduction in clinically suspected influenza (95% CI 27 to 54) and a 29% reduction in all-cause mortality (95% CI 15 to 41).
conclusionsThe evidence for employer and patient safety benefits of influenza vaccination is not straightforward and has been interpreted differently by different systematic review authors. Future uptake of influenza vaccination among healthcare workers may benefit from a fully transparent guideline process by a panel representing all relevant stakeholders, which clearly communicates the underlying rationale, evidence base and judgements made.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.