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Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - 2:25 PM
63

National Survey of Primary Care Physicians Regarding Herpes Zoster and the Herpes Zoster Vaccine

Laura Hurley1, Rafael Harpaz2, Matthew F. Daley3, Lori A. Crane4, Brenda L. Beaty5, Jennifer Barrow5, Christine Babbel5, Shannon Stokley6, Mona Marin7, John F. Steiner5, Art Davidson8, L. Miriam Dickinson9, and Allison Kempe10. (1) Division of General Internal Medicine, Denver Health, Denver, CO, USA, (2) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA, (3) Department of Pediatrics & the Children's Outcomes Research Program, Children's Outcomes Research Program, The Children's Hospital, 1056 E. 19th Avenue, B032, Denver, CO, USA, (4) Preventive Medicine & Biometrics, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 E 9th Ave, Box B-119, Denver, CO, USA, (5) Colorado Health Outcomes Program, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 12477 East 19th Ave., Box F443, Aurora, CO, USA, (6) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, MS E-52, Atlanta, GA, USA, (7) NIP/ESD/Viral Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Branch, CDC, 1600 Clifton Rd, NE, MS E-61, Atlanta, GA, USA, (8) Public Health, Denver Health, 605 Bannock Street, MC #2600, Denver, CO, USA, (9) Dept. of Family Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 E 9th Ave, Box B-119, Denver, CO, USA, (10) Dept. of Pediatrics, Univ. of Colo. HSC, Children's Outcomes Research Program, The Children's Hospital, 1056 E. 19th Avenue, Denver, CO, USA


Learning Objectives for this Presentation:
By the end of the presentation participants will be able to describe attitudes about herpes zoster (HZ) disease and intentions to use the new HZ vaccine among general internal medicine (GIM) and family medicine (FM) physicians.

Background:
A HZ vaccine was recently approved by the FDA for adults ≥60 years of age.

Objectives:
To examine primary care physicians' perceptions of the burden of disease associated with HZ and post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), intentions for recommending HZ vaccine and perceived barriers to HZ vaccination.

Methods:
National survey of 438 GIM and 433 FM physicians during November and December 2005.

Results:
Data for FM and GIM were combined because they did not differ significantly. Response rate was 69% (N=600). Thirty-five percent of GIM and FM physicians strongly agreed and 46% somewhat agreed that HZ and PHN cause a significant burden of disease in their patients. For patients ages 60-79 years, over 80% of GIM and FM physicians were somewhat or very likely to recommend HZ vaccine. In multivariate analyses, physicians who strongly agreed that HZ and PHN caused significant burden of disease indicated that they were very likely to recommend the vaccine to patients 60-79 years (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.85-4.09), while those who felt that insufficient information was available about duration of protection (OR 0.40, CI 0.24-0.67), that the need to store HZ vaccine in a freezer was a definite barrier (OR 0.31, CI 0.13-0.75), that their patients did not need the vaccine (OR 0.32, CI 0.16-0.63), or that their patients would not pay for the vaccine if it was not covered by insurance (OR 0.57, CI 0.38-0.86) reported they would be less likely to recommend it.

Conclusions:
Primary care physicians perceived a high level of burden from HZ and PHN and generally favored the HZ vaccine.

See more of Herpes Zoster (Shingles) Vaccine: The Newest Adult Vaccine
See more of The 41st National Immunization Conference (NIC)