Therapeutics
A varicella-zoster virus vaccine reduced the burden of illness of herpes zoster in older adults
Oxman MN, Levin MJ, Johnson GR, et al. A vaccine to prevent herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia in older adults. N Engl J Med 2005;352:2271–84.
Q In persons 
60 years of age, does a live attenuated varicella-zoster virus (VZV) vaccine decrease the burden of illness caused by herpes zoster and the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia?
IM/Ambulatory care Infectious disease
Key Words: chickenpox vaccine • herpes zoster • herpesvirus 3 (human) • neuralgia
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Design:
randomised placebo controlled trial (Shingles Prevention Study).
Allocation:
{concealed*}
.
Blinding:
blinded (clinicians, participants, {data collectors, outcome assessors, data analysts, and data safety and monitoring committee}).*
Follow-up period:
mean 3.13 years.
Setting:
22 sites in the US.
Participants:
38 546 persons 60 years of age (median age 69 y, 59% men) who had a history of varicella or had lived in the US 30 years. Immunocompromised persons were excluded.
Intervention:
1 subcutaneous injection of 0.5 ml of Oka/Merck VZV vaccine (n = 19 270), or placebo (n = 19 276). The vaccine had median estimated potency of 24 600 plaque forming units.
Outcomes:
vaccine efficacy with respect to the severity of illness caused by herpes zoster, defined as the relative reduction in burden of illness score (VEBOI) based on the severity of herpes zoster pain and its duration, comparing the vaccine and placebo groups. For the
Temple University School of Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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