Determinants of Willingness of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus to Receive the Seasonal Influenza Vaccine in Southeast China.

Wei Feng,Hui Li,Jun Cui

doi:10.3390/ijerph16122203

Abstract

Willingness of patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine is low in China. A cross-sectional study on a representative sample of T2DM patients was conducted in Ningbo, a city in southeast China, to assess T2DM patients’ willingness to be vaccinated against influenza and identify the influence factors of this willingness. Data regarding the participant’s history of influenza, the knowledge, willingness and uptake of the influenza vaccine, demographic characteristics, reasons for willingness or unwillingness to be vaccinated was collected. Only 19.55% of a total of 1749 participants reported a willingness to be vaccinated. Factors positively associated with willingness to be vaccinated were perceived susceptibility to influenza (OR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.5–2.5), awareness of the vaccine (OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.3–2.3) and previous history of influenza vaccination (OR = 4.4, 95% CI: 3.0–6.4). Patients with T2DM who were farmers (OR = 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4–0.8) and those managed by contracted family doctors (OR = 0.8, 95% CI: 0.6–1.0) expressed less willingness to be vaccinated. Targeted interventions such as enhancing health education and strengthening medical staff training should be conducted to increase T2DM patients’ willingness to be vaccinated and enhance influenza vaccine uptake among this population.

Highlights

Influenza, a common acute respiratory infection, has become a major public health problem worldwide [1,2]
Our study revealed that the effectiveness of the vaccine to reduce the risk of influenza is the most important factor influencing the willingness of patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to be vaccinated
An assessment of the cost-effectiveness of influenza vaccination for patients with T2DM in Turkey demonstrated that an increase in the vaccination rate from 9.1% to 20% was cost-effective according to World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines [27]

Summary

Introduction

A common acute respiratory infection, has become a major public health problem worldwide [1,2]. Several studies have identified influenza vaccination as an essential method to reduce the incidence of influenza complications, including influenza-related hospitalisation and death [10,11,12,13]. Both domestic and international guidelines recommend influenza vaccines for people with T2DM [14,15,16,17,18]. The influenza vaccination rate among patients with T2DM reported in China ranged from 2.9% to 28.8% and community-based interventions could

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Discussion

Conclusion