Flu vaccine ‘appears to extend survival for patients with cancer’
A randomised controlled trial of vaccination postsurgery is warranted, say the authors of a Danish registry study
People with cancer undergoing curative resection of a solid tumour might live longer if they have an influenza vaccination within a month after surgery, an observational study suggests.
Danish researchers set out to test whether flu vaccination in the six months after cancer surgery boosted the chances of survival.
They examined registry data for more than 21,400 people undergoing curative surgery to remove a solid tumour from 2010-15 and assessed mortality over three years starting six months post-procedure.
In the six months after their surgery, just over 2500 patients had an inactivated trivalent flu vaccination, which is available free of charge to Danes who are 65 and older or have a chronic illness.
