TETANUS IMMUNITY IN ELDERLY PEOPLE

The aims of this study were to document the level of tetanus immunity in elderly people; to assess the value of immunization history in pred icting tetanus immune status and to determine the response to tetanus immunization in elderly people compared with younger subjects. One-hun dred day-hospital attenders (group 1), 100 long-term-care residents (g roup 2) and 50 young subjects (group 3) were recruited. Protective tit res of tetanus antitoxin antibodies were detected in 20% of group 1, 4 5% of group 2 and 80% of group 3. Tetanus immunization history was a p oor predictor of immune status in older people with a positive predict ive value of 50% and a negative predictive value of 76%. The response to tetanus immunization was slower and of lower magnitude in older peo ple. However, 36 of 37 older subjects developed protective levels of t etanus antitoxin antibodies on completion of a primary immunization pr ogramme.