Influenza vaccine coverage among patients with COPD based on the Hungarian Health Survey in 2009

INTRODUCTION. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common respiratory disorder, characterized by persistent airflow limitation that is usually progressive and associated with an exaggerated chronic inflammatory process. Several factors have recently been identified that can modify the onset and exacerbation of the disease, for instance smoking cessation, behavioral therapies, etc. Studies have found a measured prevalence of COPD in Europe between 4% and 10% of adults, however, smoking cessation and vaccination against pneumococcal and influenza have recently been identified that as factors that greatly influence the onset and exacerbation of the disease.
AIM. Our main aim was to identify the factors that influenced the COPD patients' properly vaccinated status.
METHOD. Our study was based on the European Health Interview Survey 2009 (EHIS) with Hungarian data and it included 324 COPD patients' health information. Two groups were highlighted in the analyses, the first group involved 73 patients (22,9%) with proper vaccinated status, which means the patient had been vaccinated against influenza between 2008 October and 2009 March, and the second group involved 246 patients without proper influenza vaccination. The relationships between COPD patients with proper influenza vaccination status and socio-demographic factors were analyzed by multivariate logistic regressions.
RESULTS. According to the multivariate logistic regression models the higher level of education (ORtertiary/secondary= 0.32; p<0.05) compared to the group with primary education level, and the increased BMI (ORoverweight = 0.48; p<0.05; ORobese= 0.28; p<0.05) were significant factors which were associated with non-proper vaccination status. Older age (ORage= 1.12; p<0.05) and non-smoking (ORexsmoker= 5.19; p<0.01) seemed to be significant protective factors connected to recent vaccination.
CONCLUSION. Based on our findings, the vaccine coverage was insufficient among COPD patients. It highlights the importance of vaccination in order to decrease the burden of influenza complications among COPD patients, and identifies the target subgroups of COPD patients for interventions.