Tadele Admasu Fitalew
Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia.
Infect Drug Resist. 2021 Nov 23;14:4865-4876. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S340324. eCollection 2021.
Cancer patients are classified as being at high risk of contracting COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death and were recommended to have early access to the limited COVID-19 vaccine. However, there are limited studies on the knowledge and acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine among cancer patients. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the awareness, readiness, and associated factors among cancer patients.
Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 422 cancer patients from May to August, 2021. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect primary data. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression followed by multivariable analysis were performed to investigate the independent association of factors with the outcome variable. Finally, statistical significance was declared at P <0.05 using AOR and 95% CI.
From the 422 cancer patients who participated, 77 (18.2%) had a history of COVID-19 infection, and 224 (55%) believe that the cancer disease will not make them more vulnerable to be infected by COVID-19. Accordingly, younger age (18-30 years) (AOR = 2.73: 95% CI: 0.18, 4.51), female (AOR = 6.4: 95% CI: 0.7, 13.8), having information about COVID-19 vaccine (AOR = 6.9: 95% CI: 3.1, 15.2), COVID-19 infection history (AOR = 6.0: 95% CI: 2.5, 11.8), duration since cancer diagnosis (≥10 years) (AOR= 6.2: 95% CI: 2.6, 14.7), and belief about the likelihood of dying of COVID-19 infection (AOR = 3.05: 95% CI: 1.03, 4.05) were the independent predictors of the likelihood of receiving COVID-19 vaccine among cancer patients.
This study has found significant cancer patients with poor knowledge about the vaccine, and the percentage of both the first and second round of COVID-19 vaccination was small. Therefore, information communication with cancer patients and oncologists about the COVID-19 vaccine may help to decrease vaccine hesitancy.
癌症患者被归类为感染新冠病毒、住院和死亡的高风险人群，并被建议尽早接种有限的新冠疫苗。然而，关于癌症患者对新冠疫苗的认知和接受情况的研究有限。因此，本研究旨在评估癌症患者的认知度、接种意愿及相关因素。
2021年5月至8月，对422名癌症患者进行了基于机构的横断面研究。采用结构化访谈问卷收集原始数据。使用系统随机抽样技术选择研究参与者。进行描述性统计和二元逻辑回归，随后进行多变量分析，以研究各因素与结果变量之间的独立关联。最后，使用调整后比值比（AOR）和95%置信区间（CI），以P<0.05为具有统计学意义。
在参与研究的422名癌症患者中，77人（18.2%）有新冠病毒感染史，224人（55%）认为癌症不会使他们更容易感染新冠病毒。因此，年龄较小（18 - 30岁）（AOR = 2.73：95%CI：0.18，4.51）、女性（AOR = 6.4：95%CI：0.7，13.8）、了解新冠疫苗信息（AOR = 6.9：95%CI：3.1，15.2）、有新冠病毒感染史（AOR = 6.0：95%CI：2.5，11.8）、癌症确诊后的时长（≥10年）（AOR = 6.2：95%CI：2.6，14.7）以及认为感染新冠病毒后死亡可能性的信念（AOR = 3.05：95%CI：1.03，4.05）是癌症患者接种新冠疫苗可能性的独立预测因素。
本研究发现癌症患者对疫苗的认知较差，且首轮和第二轮新冠疫苗接种率均较低。因此，与癌症患者和肿瘤学家就新冠疫苗进行信息沟通可能有助于减少疫苗犹豫。
