[cycEVA study: case control study measuring influenza vaccine effectiveness in Spain, 2008-2013]

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Vaccinology

Background:

• The cycEVA case-control study, Spain's contribution to the European I-MOVE network, has estimated influenza vaccine effectiveness (EV) since the 2008-09 season.
• This study aimed to evaluate the performance of cycEVA across its first five editions, from 2008/09 to 2012/13.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and analyze the performance of the cycEVA study in estimating influenza vaccine effectiveness in Spain.
• To assess key performance indicators including practitioner participation, patient recruitment, data quality, and result dissemination.

Main Methods:

• Trend analysis of participation rates among sentinel general practitioners and pediatricians.
• Evaluation of patient recruitment and inclusion rates in the study analysis.
• Assessment of data quality and the dissemination impact of cycEVA results, including publication in peer-reviewed journals and citations.
• Trend analysis utilized the Cochran-Armitage test to calculate the Annual Percentage Change (PCA).

Main Results:

• Participant numbers increased from 164 to 246 practitioners, with a significant annual increase in practitioner recruitment (PCA = 15.33%).
• Patient inclusion in analyses rose significantly (PCA = 5.91%) from 77% to over 95%.
• cycEVA contributed 23-30% of patients to the I-MOVE study, with results published in high-impact journals and garnering 97 citations.

Conclusions:

• The cycEVA study demonstrated improved performance over its initial five seasons.
• Key achievements include enhanced data quality, more timely vaccine effectiveness estimates, and a greater impact of research findings.