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Young children are more likely to have serious or life-threatening complications of influenza, but only about half of American children get the flu shot.
A simple, low-cost flu brochure, given to parents in their pediatrician's waiting room, can increase the number of children vaccinated against influenza, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University.
The study – a randomized, controlled clinical trial – is one of the first to examine the effect of educational information on influenza immunization rates in children.
"Parents 'concerns and misperceptions about vaccines are on the rise," said Melissa Stockwell, MD, MPH, badociate professor of pediatrics and population and family health at the College of Vagelos' Physicians and Surgeons. Columbia University and main author. "But previous studies had shown that offering information to refute vaccine myths only reinforced parents' beliefs about immunization and could even reduce the number of parents reluctant to vaccinate who had the vaccine." Intention to vaccinate their children. "
The flu spreads easily and affects about 8% of children each year. In young children, particularly those younger than 2 years old, influenza is more likely to cause pneumonia and severe inflammatory reactions, which can lead to hospitalization and even death.
Influenza vaccine, also known as "influenza vaccine", is the best way to prevent influenza. The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend annual flu shots for children 6 months and older.
"In our study, we hoped to identify educational content that would encourage parents to vaccinate their children against the flu," said Vanessa P. Scott, first author, who was previously a University Fellow in Pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. is currently a clinical badistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California at San Diego.
The study included 400 parent-child couples in pediatric clinics in northern Manhattan. Parents responded to a brief questionnaire to badess their attitudes towards the influenza vaccine and their intention to vaccinate. One-third received a one-page document containing local information on the flu, another third received a one-page document containing national information on the flu and the rest received usual care (not of document). Both documents highlighted the risk of getting the flu, the severity of the disease and the effectiveness of the vaccine. Providers were not aware of participation in the parent's study.
The researchers found that nearly 72% of children whose parents had received one or the other form had been vaccinated before the end of the season, compared to about 65% of those who had received the usual care.
Parents who received the national document were more likely to have their child vaccinated on the day of the clinic visit (59%) compared to those who received no document (53%).
Parents less concerned about vaccination were more likely to vaccinate their children by the end of the season (74% versus 59% of parents with significant concerns) and the day of the clinic visit (59% and 45%, respectively). respectively). About 90% of parents who said they planned to vaccinate their children did so before the end of the influenza season.
"We found that a low-cost document that could be easily implemented in any pediatric practice had a significant and significant impact on influenza immunization in children," Stockwell said.
The document is available in the document.
Although Stockwell expects the document containing local information to have a greater impact, the document containing national data improves the vaccination rate on the day of the office visit.
"The difference in magnitude of the number of deaths from influenza may have made the national document more powerful," Stockwell said.
Future research will compare the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and feasibility of different methods for disseminating influenza educational information, including hand-outs, SMS, videos and interactive social media.
The study was titled "Office Influenza Immunization Practice Paper: Randomized Controlled Trial" and was published on July 10 in the journal Pediatrics. The other authors are Douglas Opel (University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital), Jason Reifler (University of Exeter, UK), Sharon Rikin (Irving Medical Center of Columbia University and New York University). York-Presbyterian), Kalpana Pethe (CUIMC and NYP) and Angela Barrett. (CUIMC). The study was funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an institutional training grant from the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award and the European Research Council.
Source: Columbia University
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