COVID-19 Pandemic
Long-term, All-Cause Mortality Following COVID-19 among Older U.S. Adults With and Without a Bivalent or 2023-2024 COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Nicole D. Ford* Nicole Ford Ford Ford Ford Ford Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC
Background: Little is known about COVID-19 vaccination and long-term, all-cause mortality risk following COVID-19. We assessed the effect of receiving a bivalent or 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine dose on long-term mortality following COVID-19 diagnosis among older U.S. adults.
Methods: We developed a retrospective cohort of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries aged ≥65 years from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Chronic Conditions Warehouse database. Eligible adults had evidence of any COVID-19 vaccination prior to September 2022 and a documented COVID-19 diagnosis September 2022–December 2023. The exposure was receipt of a bivalent or 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine dose prior to their COVID-19 diagnosis. We estimated hazard ratios for all-cause mortality following COVID-19 diagnosis using Cox Proportional Hazards models comparing beneficiaries with and without the COVID-19 vaccine dose. We used survival analysis to calculate risk difference and risk ratios comparing these groups at 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, and 15-months post-COVID-19 diagnosis. All analyses used propensity score weighting to balance participant characteristics.
Conclusion: These findings highlight the ongoing benefit of COVID-19 vaccination in reducing long-term all-cause mortality.
