International Journal of Clinical Case Reports, 2025, Vol.15, No.4, 190-199 http://medscipublisher.com/index.php/ijccr 190 Feature Review Open Access Nursing Monitoring and Immunological Trends After Influenza Vaccination in Institutionalized Elderly Populations Jianmin Liu Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd., Haidin, 100193, Beijing, China Corresponding email: jianminliu@sinovac.com International Journal of Clinical Case Reports 2025, Vol.15, No.4 doi: 10.5376/ijccr.2025.15.0020 Received: 26 Jun., 2025 Accepted: 05 Aug., 2025 Published: 29 Aug., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Liu, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Liu J.M., 2025, Nursing monitoring and immunological trends after influenza vaccination in institutionalized elderly populations, International Journal of Clinical Case Reports, 15(4): 190-199 (doi: 10.5376/ijccr.2025.15.0020) Abstract This study explores that the immune system function of the elderly gradually weakens with age, making them more susceptible to infectious diseases such as influenza. In institutions where people live in concentrated areas such as nursing homes, because the elderly in these places are generally physically weak and have many chronic diseases, coupled with the dense living environment, it is more likely to cause infectious incidents. Although getting the flu vaccine is the main preventive method, due to the influence of immune aging, the vaccine effect for the elderly is often not ideal. This study introduces factors such as antibody changes, the impact of chronic diseases, and nutritional status. At the same time, the importance of nursing monitoring was also emphasized, including pre-vaccination assessment, short-term observation and long-term immune follow-up. This study also put forward suggestions for personalized care, multidisciplinary collaboration and policy-level improvement. Establishing a complete nursing work system is of vital importance for enhancing the efficacy of vaccines and protecting the health of the elderly in elderly care institutions. Keywords Influenza vaccine; Nursing institutions; Elderly immunity; Nursing monitoring; Immunosenescence 1 Introduction With the increase of age, the immune system function of the elderly declines. This immunosenescence, combined with various chronic diseases, leads to a significant increase in their prevalence and mortality after influenza infection (Goronzy et al., 2001). Once an influenza outbreak occurs, the elderly are prone to severe complications, which may even lead to hospitalization or death. Therefore, preventing influenza is an important task for public health (Black et al., 2017; Smetana et al., 2018; Incalzi et al., 2023). Although vaccination is the main method for preventing and controlling influenza, due to the decline of immune function, the protective effect of the vaccine in the elderly is usually not as good as that in the young (Goronzy et al., 2001; Henry et al., 2019; Riese et al., 2022). The elderly living in institutions such as nursing homes are particularly vulnerable to influenza because they live nearby, have frequent contact with caregivers, and are physically weak and have many chronic diseases (Incalzi et al., 2023) These factors not only increase the risk of infection and transmission, but also make the management and efficacy evaluation after vaccination more complicated. Although the vaccination rate in many elderly care institutions is relatively high, there are still differences among different regions or groups, and the vaccination rate in some places is still not ideal (Black et al., 2017; Quelhas et al., 2024). Furthermore, cognitive impairments such as dementia also make the implementation of preventive measures more difficult (Appel et al., 2025). This study will explore the multiple risks of institutional elderly people, the characteristics of their immune response after influenza vaccination, and the crucial role that nursing monitoring plays in this process. The immune responses of these elderly people vary greatly and are influenced by factors such as age, nutritional status and basic immune function. Monitoring vaccination status and immune response can help identify people with poor vaccine response, take timely intervention measures, and improve the overall efficacy of the vaccine. This study aims to review the existing research on immune responses and summarize the best practices in nursing monitoring to enhance the influenza prevention level among the elderly in elderly care institutions.
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