Vaccination coverage and related factors among the elderly: A cross-sectional study from Turkey.

OBJECTIVE

The study was conducted to determine the vaccination rates and related factors among the elderly.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SAMPLE

This study was conducted with 984 elderly people living in a province in western Turkey.

MEASUREMENTS

The single-stage cluster sampling method was used in the sample selection. The descriptive statistics, the chi-square analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test and the logistic regression analysis for the multivariate analysis were used to evaluate the data.

RESULTS

It was determined that 45.6% of the elderly were vaccinated after the age of 65 and the most frequently administered vaccines were influenza (41.3%), pneumococcal (10.9%), and tetanus (5.5%) vaccines. Higher vaccination rates were determined in the following demographics, namely by 1.8-fold (95% CI, 1.4-2.4) in those living in urban areas, by 2.6-fold (95% CI, 1.8-3.9) in those with high school or higher education, by 1.5-fold (95% CI, 1.0-2.5) in those who did not work, by 1.7-fold (95% CI, 1.3-2.3) in those with chronic diseases and by 2-fold (95% CI, 1.1-3.4) in those who fulfilled their physical own needs themselves.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that more than half of the elderly did not receive any vaccinations in old age. The vaccination rates of the elderly were associated with many factors.