Experimental studies have demonstrated that influenza vaccination may protect against tuberculosis (TB) through a Th17 response. This nationwide cohort study aimed to evaluate the association of influenza vaccination with incident TB among elderly persons in Taiwan. This 2005-2012 study included 99,982 elderly persons (64,290 vaccinated and 35,692 unvaccinated) from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. During the 738,367 person-years of follow-up, 1,141 (1.14%) persons had incident TB. The cumulative incidences of TB were 145.2 cases/100,000 person-years among vaccinated elderly persons and 175.5 cases/100,000 person-years among unvaccinated elderly persons (p = 0.002). The time-dependent Cox proportional hazards model revealed that influenza vaccination was an independent protective factor for incident TB. Our results suggest that influenza vaccination is associated with a lower risk of incident TB among elderly persons in Taiwan. Further investigation of biologic mechanisms is warranted.
Keywords: Taiwan; bacteria; elderly; influenza; influenza vaccination; tuberculosis and other mycobacteria; vaccines; viruses.