The use of immunization registry-based data in vaccine effectiveness studies

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Immunization Informatics

Background:

• Vaccine effectiveness (VE) studies evaluate population-level vaccine performance.
• These studies typically integrate immunization records with disease incidence data.
• Electronic immunization registries (EIRs) offer potential data sources for VE studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of utilizing electronic immunization registry data for vaccine effectiveness studies.
• To review existing literature on the use of EIRs in VE research.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of electronic databases was conducted up to January 31, 2010.
• Seventeen studies were identified and analyzed for their use of EIR data in VE assessments.

Main Results:

• Only one study reported data accuracy at 71%.
• Three studies assessed registry population coverage, with estimates varying from 25% to 90%.
• The review confirmed the general feasibility of using EIRs for VE studies across diverse settings.

Conclusions:

• Electronic immunization registries are a viable data source for conducting vaccine effectiveness studies.
• There is a significant lack of information on the quality, reliability, and accuracy of EIR data within VE studies.
• Future research should prioritize evaluating the quality and potential biases of EIR data for robust VE assessments.