Affiliation:
1. Konya Beyhekim Training and Research Hospital
2. University of Health Sciences, Konya City Hospital
3. Konya Ölmez Dialysis Center
Abstract
Aims: Vaccination is main risk reducing strategy for vaccine-preventable infections in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, but vaccination rates in hemodialysis patients are not at the desired level. In this study, we aimed to search the rates of influenza, pneumococcal, hepatitis B and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccination, the vaccination awareness and the reasons for not taking vaccination in hemodialysis patients.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 232 CKD patients undergoing hemodialysis in two centers for at least six months were included. The patients completed the questionnaire about vaccination. The data about patients’ history of vaccination regarding influenza, pneumococcal, hepatitis B and COVID-19 vaccines; patients’ attitudes and knowledge about vaccination; the source of information about vaccination were collected via this questionnaire.
Results: The rates of pneumococcal, influenza, hepatitis B and COVID-19 vaccination were 9.9%, 56.6%, 38.8% and 87.1%, respectively. In patients with missing vaccination, the main reasons for not taking vaccination were lack of knowledge about vaccination (48.7%), the thought that the vaccine is not beneficial (12.5%) and fear of adverse effects (3.4%). The main sources of information about vaccination were healthcare workers (90.5%), radio/televison (1.7%) and internet (1.7%).
Conclusion: Our findings showed that the rates of influenza, pneumococcal and hepatitis B vaccination were below the targeted levels and the main reason was the lack of information about vaccination and the main source of information about vaccination was health personnel. Strategies should be developed to increase the awareness and rate of vaccination for vaccine-preventable infections in CKD patients.
Publisher
Journal of Medicine and Palliative Care