| Abstract [eng] |
Problem of the study: There is very little research on the medical approach to vaccination in Lithuania, but the increasing number of statements of specialists with medical education with skeptical remarks about the vaccination in media, it becomes clear that their approach to vaccination is affected by a number of myths about vaccination and that this area is problematic. Aim of the study: identification of the attitude to vaccination of doctors working in the outpatient clinics of Vilnius. Tasks of the study: 1. Evaluate the attitude of the physitians to safety, benefit, efficiency of vaccination, and the calendar of children’s vaccination. 2. Evaluate the attitude of the physitians to vaccination against: diphtheria, tetanus, pneumococcal infection, flu, human papillomavirus infection. 3. Evaluate the factors capable to have influence on the attitude of the physitians to vaccination. Methods: 7 outpatient clinics were randomly selected out of outpatient clinics located in city of Vilnius. A special questionnaire was composed for this purpose and doctors of various fields of specializations were questioned. 393 questioners were processed for analysis of the data. Data analysis was performed using 16.0 for Windows, implementing descriptive statistics, nonparametric and parametric criteria, as well as binary logistic regression. Results: 86 (24.00%) agreed that vaccination is not sufficiently evidence based. Only 29 (7.60%) agreed that vaccination induces more related health risks over possible beneficial effects. The minority, respectively 38 (10.00%) and 60 (15.90%) of respondents agreed that convalescence from an infectious disease is safer and more efficient than vaccination. However, the majority i.e. 275 (72.90%) of medical staff agreed that vaccination has a positive risk-benefit ratio. The vast majority of respondents (354 (92.6%)) agrees that the vaccination should be administered inline to the approved pediatric immunization calendar. 235 (66.2%) of respondents agreed that adults should be immunized with tetanus and diphtheria vaccines every 10 years. A similar amount of respondents agree with an inclusion of pneumococcal vaccine to the pediatric immunization calendar. 44.5% of respondents agree that adults of 65 years of age and older should be vaccinated with pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. 341 (88.40%) of respondents agree that influenza is a severe. Approximately only one third – i.e. 135 (34.40%) of the respondents were immunized with influenza vaccine last season of influenza. The most prevalent causes of refusing the vaccination were the belief that there are other methods to avoid the infection 141 (35.90%). The majority of respondents – i.e. 222 (63.90%) agree upon the vaccination of girls of 11-13 years of age for the HPV infection. In addition, they also think that this vaccination should be included to the pediatric immunization calendar (204 (62.90%)). The possibility that the information regarding the vaccination form media did not influence their attitude to vaccination and their own attitude is favorable is 2.5 fold bigger than among those who responded that media changed their opinion about vaccination (95% CI 1.118 – 5.620). The possibility of favorable attitude of a doctor to vaccination is likely to be approximately two times bigger, if a respondent is a general practitioner, internist, pediatrician (95% CI 1.183 – 3.488). Results: the overall attitude of doctors to vaccination is quite positive, although 20% of respondents question the scientific ground of the efficacy of vaccination. However, the majority of respondents agree on the positive risk-benefit ratio of the vaccination. Approximately a half of respondents agree on the necessity of some of the vaccines. The relationship of the attitude between the influence of the media and the specialization of a doctor was identified. |
