Knowledge of, and attitudes towards, adult vaccination among General Practitioners in Piedmont, Italy: results from a cross-sectional study
Keywords:
Adult vaccination, influenza, invasive pneumococcal disease, pertussis, herpes zoster, ItalyAbstract
Background. “Life-course immunization” is increasingly recognized as important. In Italy, adults are recommended to receive influenza; pneumococcal; tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, acellular pertussis (Tdap); and herpes zoster (HZ) vaccines at various ages.
Study design. Cross-sectional study.
Methods. To study the knowledge and attitudes of Italian general practitioners (GPs) towards adult vaccination, we surveyed 335 GPs in Piedmont from December 2019 through March 2020; and compared the results by GPs’ age (≤50 vs >50 years).
Results. The most common vaccination information source was the regional/local educational courses (72.8%), with older vs younger GPs more likely to attend (79.4% vs 64.4%; p=0.002). Approximately half felt that they needed further information on vaccine co-administration (55.5%), duration of protection (49.6%), and safety/tolerability (48.7%), with older vs younger GPs being more interested in safety/tolerability. Overall, most respondents (86.0%) felt that information for the patient would most engage them, and 68.1% planned to co-administer vaccines. Respondents felt most comfortable proposing influenza, but were also comfortable about pneumococcal/Tdap/HZ vaccination. However, younger vs older GPs were more comfortable about proposing Tdap and HZ. The most common ways to inform patients about influenza or pneumococcal/Tdap/HZ vaccination eligibility were personally during a visit (42.7% or 54.3%, respectively) or via an information poster (30.7% or 17.9%).
Conclusions. The surveyed GPs had favorable attitudes towards adult vaccination and were interested in ongoing education.
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