Award to Verònica Torras, family and community medicine resident from the USR Tarragona-Reus, awarded at the CAMFiC Research Conference
Verònica Torras, a family and community medicine resident who is studying her thesis at the USR Tarragona-Reus, was awarded last May 4 during the CAMFiC Resident Research Conference in Family and Community Medicine. He won the first prize of the call for the study "Indirect effect of the introduction of pn13 in the childhood vaccination calendar, on the incidence of pneumonia from any cause in adults = 50 years in Catalonia".
The study, which forms part of his thesis, aimed to evaluate the incidence of pneumonia in people over 50 years of age, which represents ¾ of the population affected by this disease. The evaluation period was from 2015 to 2017, as it was in 2016 that the pn13 vaccine (against pneumococcus) was included in the childhood vaccination schedule. Taking into account that children could be one of the carriers of the bacterium and, therefore, could easily infect older people, upon receiving the vaccine, a decrease in cases of pneumonia in people over fifty was expected.
The study therefore made a comparison between the two periods, in one the vaccine had not been administered to all children and in the other it was. The results partly confirmed Verònica Torras' hypothesis. It was found that the incidence of pneumonia from any cause in the overall population studied was very similar in both periods, with no statistically significant differences. Although if analyzed by subgroups, it was discovered that in people over 65 there was a lower incidence during the period when children were already vaccinated. There was also a statistically significant decrease in people with chronic respiratory disease and in people who smoked.
During the CAMFiC Research Days, there were several interventions, among which was that of Mercè Marzo, who spoke about practical Tics to interpret scientific evidence, and that of Dr. Josep Basora, who explained to the attendees how to make a good public presentation of a research project.
