Efficacy of influenza vaccines and its relationship with immunological surrogate endpoints: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCT.

Background: Vaccine efficacy may vary due to influenza strain types, their similarity, and vaccine type. The relationship between immunological surrogate endpoints and vaccine efficacy remains unclear, requiring further investigation to optimize vaccination strategies.

Objective: This systematic review aims to address two key issues. First, to evaluate the vaccine efficacy stratified by vaccine types and virus strains; Second, to explore the quantitative relationship between immunological surrogate endpoints and vaccine efficacy.

Data sources: We searched PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases.

Study eligibility criteria, patients, interventions: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published by July 16, 2024, that evaluated the efficacy of influenza vaccines against laboratory-confirmed influenza. Phase I/II clinical trials, abstracts, reviews, unregistered trials, duplicate studies, and studies lacking original data or efficacy results were excluded.

Methods: This systematic review evaluates influenza vaccine efficacy and immunogenicity, including RCTs with outcomes like Geometric Mean Titer (GMT), seroprotection and seroconversion rates. Data were extracted from multiple databases and assessed using Cochrane and GRADE frameworks.

Results: Twenty-six RCTs (104,931 participants) were included. Pooled vaccine efficacy against laboratory-confirmed influenza was 48.48% (95% CI: 41.9-54.29), with significant heterogeneity (I² =70.1%, p < 0.0001). IIVs had the highest vaccine efficacy (54.70%). Among different strains, the vaccine efficacy against H1N1 was the highest, reaching 59.38% (95% CI: 24.60-78.12). We found a significant non-linear relationship between Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) in Hemagglutination Antibody Titer(HAI) concentration and vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infections, but with low explanatory power, and seroconversion rates, seroprotection rates and fold increase in GMT were strongly associated with viral attack rates with Medium explanatory power (p < 0.05 for all), with explanatory values of 0.5038, 0.464, and 0.286, respectively.

Conclusions: This systematic review highlights that Influenza vaccines provide moderate protection while Inactivated Influenza Vaccine demonstrate higher efficacy. Seroconversion, seroprotection rates and fold increase in GMT offer limited but valuable insights into vaccine performance. Annual vaccination is crucial for controlling both similar and dissimilar influenza strains.