Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 2:15 PM
5048

Do Sources of Parental Information Outside the Health Care Provider’s Office Vary by Immunization Status?

Barbara H. Bardenheier, NIP/ISD/HSREB, CDC, 1600 Clifton Rd, NE, MS-E52, Atlanta, GA, USA, Dr. Jeanne Santoli, National Immunization Program, CDC, Kristine M. Sheedy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, Mailstop E-61, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Lawrence Barker, Immunization Services Division, Centers for Disease Control, Assessment Branch, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-E62, Atlanta, GA, USA.


BACKGROUND:
Although vaccination coverage remains high, vaccine safety information received outside the health care provider's office may affect childhood immunization rates.

OBJECTIVE:
Identify sources of vaccination information parents seek outside the provider's office and relationship to children's immunization status.

METHOD:
Case-control study: 4,440 households in the 2000-2001 National Immunization Survey, a national sample of U.S. preschool children. Three groups were analyzed: 1) Measles containing vaccines (MCV): cases received < 1 doses; controls received > 1 dose. 2) Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis (DTP/DTaP): cases, 0-2 doses; controls > 3 doses. 3) Hepatitis B: cases, 0-2 doses; controls > 3 doses.

RESULT:
Household response rate: 52.1% (2,315/4,440). In all groups, 26%-34% of respondents reported receiving immunization information from a source other than the child's doctor or nurse. This analysis is limited to those respondents. The kinds (e.g., vaccine efficacy, diseases prevented, and side effects) and sources (e.g., books, magazines, family/friends, TV) of information parents obtained were not statistically significantly different between cases and controls in any group, with the exception of internet use. Hepatitis B cases were less likely to get information from the internet than controls (7.5% vs 18.6%, c2 p-value=0.03). DTP/DTaP cases were less likely to be concerned about information they received from the internet (51.5% vs 6.5%, c2 p-value=0.04), but were more likely to report they did not rely on the internet information than controls (62.5% vs 53.8%, c2 p-value=0.04).

CONCLUSION:
For most parents, vaccination decisions were not impacted by the type or the source of information obtained outside a provider's office. The role of the internet in vaccination decision-making is unclear and information about how parents select internet sites for viewing is needed to improve our understanding of the impact of this increasingly popular information source.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Understand impact of non-traditional sources of vaccination information on immunization status of children.

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