{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T10:09:45Z","timestamp":1787738985508,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,8]],"date-time":"2025-03-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741392000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of C\u00f3rdoba","award":["CTS-295"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CTS-295"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Vaccines"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) can lead to severe and fatal outcomes. Vaccines against meningococcus (serogroups B, MenB; or ACWY, MenACWY) are recommended for patients at high risk of developing IMD. Our aim was to identify high-risk patients through a systematic search of medical codes and to evaluate vaccination coverage by high-risk group. Methods: An observational retrospective study was conducted in patients discharged at Reina Sof\u00eda University Hospital (Cordoba, Spain) from 1 January 2000, to 31 December 2023. Selection of high-risk patients was conducted through national administrative and clinical databases and vaccination coverage was determined through the Andalusian electronic vaccine database. Vaccine coverages of MenB and MenACWY were calculated within risk groups. Finally, bivariate analyses were conducted to assess the potential association between coverage, sex, and the year of admission. Results: A total of 2689 patients with 2710 high-risk conditions for IMD were identified from the databases searched. Of the 1755 requiring MenB vaccination, only 624 (35.6%) had received one dose and 558 (31.8%) two doses. Of the 2710 requiring MenACWY vaccination, only 784 (28.9%) had received one dose and 520 (19.2%) two doses. Patients with properdin-complement deficiencies showed the lowest vaccination rates (&lt;10%). For the rest of the high-risk groups, vaccination coverages were significantly lower when the condition was diagnosed before the immunization guideline recommendations (p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: The identification of high-risk patients through databases using R-coded algorithms is both feasible and effective for identifying and catching-up patients for vaccination. The population at risk of IMD lacks adequate meningococcal vaccination coverage. Our methodology can serve to identify patients in other regions and for different vaccines.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/vaccines13030287","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,10]],"date-time":"2025-03-10T06:59:59Z","timestamp":1741589999000},"page":"287","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Meningococcal Vaccination in High-Risk Patients: A Systematic Approach to Evaluating Coverage and Patient Catch-Up Through Healthcare Databases"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9113-6493","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafael","family":"Ruiz-Montero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Unit, Reina Sof\u00eda University Hospital, 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Group, Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of C\u00f3rdoba (IMIBIC), 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u00c1lvaro","family":"Serrano-Ortiz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Group, Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of C\u00f3rdoba (IMIBIC), 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Unit, Healthcare Management Area South of C\u00f3rdoba, 14940 Cabra, C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mario","family":"Rivera-Izquierdo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Biosanitaria de Granada (ibs.GRANADA), 18014 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Centros de Investigaci\u00f3n Biom\u00e9dica en Red de Epidemiolog\u00eda y Salud P\u00fablica (CIBERESP), 28029 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Piedad","family":"Galvache Murillo-Rico","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ana","family":"Mo\u00f1iz-D\u00edez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Group, Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of C\u00f3rdoba (IMIBIC), 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mar\u00eda \u00c1ngeles","family":"Onieva-Garc\u00eda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Unit, Reina Sof\u00eda University Hospital, 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Group, Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of C\u00f3rdoba (IMIBIC), 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9267-1394","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eloy","family":"Girela-L\u00f3pez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Legal and Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0864-6856","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Inmaculada","family":"Salcedo-Leal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Unit, Reina Sof\u00eda University Hospital, 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of C\u00f3rdoba, 14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"},{"name":"Preventive Medicine and Public Health Research Group, Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of C\u00f3rdoba (IMIBIC), 14004 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Morello, B.R., Milazzo, A., Marshall, H.S., and Giles, L.C. 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