DIPHTHERIA VACCINATION COVERAGE AMONG ADULTS IN GENERAL PRACTICE.

Introduction: Diphtheria is a vaccine preventable infectious disease with serious potential consequences up to disability and death. DVC among adults in Latvia (56%; 2015) doesn't reach recommended level - 80%. Aim:To analyze DVC among adults in General Practice (GP) and identify reasons for avoiding vaccination. Materials and methods: The longitudinal research was done by analyzing medical documentation of 620 adult patients in a GP practice. Patients with no revaccination filled in a questionnaire, containing questions regarding participant's gender, age, education level and reasons for avoiding vaccination. Data was statistically processed in SPSS Statistics 22.0. Results: 44% (n=271) haven't received diphtheria revaccination. The results of questionnaire were as follows: respondents in age group from 25 to 40 (81.1%; p = 0.001) and people with high school education level (89.7%; p = 0.013) received vaccines during their childhood more frequently than people older than 65 years (69.2%; p = 0,001) and elementary school level educated participants(54,5%; p = 0.013).The main reasons for vaccination avoidance among elementary education level responders were high price (33.3%; p=0,003) and unavailability of vaccination facilities among high school education responders(47.6%; p=0,003). People with professional education level claimed to have receive too little information regarding effectiveness of vaccination procedure (57.9%; p=0,003). Respondents in age group from 25 to 40 (69.8%; p=0,034) and people who do not have children of their own (73.2%; p = 0.01) - were unfamiliar with manifestation of diphtheria infection. The respondents with secondary professional school education level had no information regarding free availability of diphtheria vaccine (61.9%; p=0,01). Male patients were more uninformed regarding revaccination possibilities than female patients (65.2%; p = 0.024). The responders in age group from 25 to 40 years lacked knowledge regarding tetanus transmission route (52.8%; p = 0,008), but it was well known fact to the respondents with children (69.5%; p = 0.037). Conclusion: DVC among adults in GP practice doesn't reach the recommended population protective level. Communication strategies focused on education of patients may result in increase of vaccination coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]