Abstract
Study design
Cross-sectional survey.
Objectives
To evaluate the annual influenza vaccination coverage rate (IVCR) among community-dwelling individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting
SCI community in Switzerland.
Methods
Participants were responders to the influenza vaccination question (n = 492) in the 2012 community survey of the Swiss Spinal Cord Injury (SwiSCI) cohort study. IVCR of SwiSCI participants were compared to the normative Swiss population, sampled in the Swiss Health Survey of 2012 using direct standardization, logistic regression standardization, and a genetic matching approach to control for differences in age, sex, and quarterly period of survey response.
Results
Individuals with SCI showed higher crude (26%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 22–30%) and age- and sex-standardized (24%, CI: 23–24%) IVCR than observed in the general population (15% CI, 14–15%). The adjustment for age and sex as well as quarterly period of survey response showed that the standardized IVCR of individuals with SCI (17%; CI: 12–23%) approached that of the general population. Low IVCR of about 10% were found among individuals with SCI younger than 45 years. IVCR were similar between men and women and between individuals with incomplete and complete paraplegia and tetraplegia.
Conclusion
The IVCR in individuals with chronic SCI was not higher than in the general population and much lower than guidelines recommend. The improvement of the IVCR is an important target of health policy in SCI in Switzerland as to reduce the evidenced excess burden in respiratory-disease related morbidity and mortality.
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Data archiving
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all the participants of the SwiSCI and SHS surveys for their time and effort spent in responding to the questions. This study has been financed in the framework of the SwiSCI study, supported by the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation.
Members of the SwiSCI Steering Committee
Xavier Jordan4, Bertrand Léger4, Michael Baumberger5, Hans Peter Gmünder5, Armin Curt6, Martin Schubert6, Margret Hund-Georgiadis7, Kerstin Hug7, Thomas Troger8, Daniel Joggi9, Hardy Landolt10, Nadja Münzel11, Mirjam Brach1, Gerold Stucki1, Christine Fekete12,
Funding
All authors were salaried by organizations financially compensated by the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation.
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ER and MM were responsible for data analysis. ER and MB were responsible for research design. ER, MM, and MB were responsible for introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion sections.
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We certify that all applicable institutional and governmental regulations concerning the ethical use of human volunteers were followed during the course of this research. All SwiSCI participants signed a written consent form before completing the survey. The study was approved by the ethics committee of northwest/central Switzerland. Data of the SHS were anonymized before analysis. The permission to analyze and publish the data was obtained through a contract with the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Ronca, E., Miller, M., Brinkhof, M.W.G. et al. Poor adherence to influenza vaccination guidelines in spinal cord injury: results from a community-based survey in Switzerland. Spinal Cord 58, 18–24 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-019-0333-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41393-019-0333-x
