Osman BARAK, Aybüke BACANLI, Seçil ARICA
Türkiye Aile Hekimliği Dergisi - 2026;30(3):184-194
Objective: Individuals receiving home health care services often constitute a group with multiple chronic conditions, limited physical mobility, and restricted access to healthcare facilities. Immunization services are therefore critical for preventing infections in this population. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the frequency of pneumonia and related hospitalization rates after pneumococcal vaccination in patients receiving home healthcare services. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at the Home Health Care Unit of Prof. Dr. Cemil Taşcıoğlu City Hospital, by reviewing the records of 125 patients who had received pneumococcal vaccination at home between June and September 2023. For each patient, the number of pneumonia episodes and hospitalization status before and after vaccination were compared. Results: A total of 125 patients were included in the study, consisting of 85 (68.0%) females and 40 (32.0%) males. Regarding age stratification, 9 (7.2%) patients were under 65 years of age, while 116 (92.8%) patients were 65 years of age and older. The mean number of pneumonia episodes decreased significantly from 1.68 +/- 1.42 before vaccination to 0.44 +/- 0.66 after vaccination, corresponding to an approximately 73.5% reduction (p < 0.001). After vaccination, patients had substantially lower odds of developing pneumonia (matched OR 12.40). A similar improvement was observed in hospitalization rates, which decreased from 17.6% before vaccination to 7.2% afterward (p = 0.019). Hospitalization odds were about threefold lower after vaccination. Conclusion: Our study shows that pneumococcal vaccination among home health care patients was associated with a significant reduction in pneumonia episodes and pneumonia-related hospitalizations. Given the uncontrolled pre-post design, these associations should not be interpreted as direct causal effects. The improvement observed after vaccination suggests that pneumococcal immunization is clinically important for high-risk individuals and should be expanded among similar risk groups. To maximize protection, healthcare providers should routinely screen the immunization status of home healthcare patients and integrate pneumococcal vaccination into standard homecare protocols as a priority preventie measure.
