Do vaccination strategies implemented by nursing homes narrow the racial gap in receipt of influenza vaccination in the United States?

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether the racial inequity between African Americans and Caucasians in receipt of influenza vaccine is narrower in residents of nursing homes with facility-wide vaccination strategies than in residents of facilities without vaccination strategies.

DESIGN

Secondary data analysis using the National Nursing Home Survey 2004, a nationally representative survey.

SETTING

One thousand one hundred seventy-four participating nursing homes sampled systematically with probability proportional to bed size.

PARTICIPANTS

Thirteen thousand five hundred seven randomly sampled residents of nursing homes between August and December 2004.

MEASUREMENTS

Receipt of influenza vaccine within the last year. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between facility-level influenza immunization strategy and racial inequity in receipt of vaccination, adjusted for characteristics at the resident, facility, state, and regional levels.

RESULTS

Overall in the United States, vaccination coverage was higher for Caucasian and African-American residents; the racial vaccination gaps were smaller (<6 percentage points) and nonsignificant in residents of homes with standing orders for influenza vaccinations (P=.14), verbal consent allowed for vaccinations(P=.39), and routine review of facility-wide vaccination rates (P=.61) than for residents of homes without these strategies. The racial vaccination gap in residents of homes without these strategies were two to three times as high (P=.009, P=.002, and P=.002, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The presence of several immunization strategies in nursing homes is associated with higher vaccination coverage for Caucasian and African-American residents, narrowing the national vaccination racial gap.