Despite small improvement, black nursing home residents remain less likely than whites to receive flu vaccine

Abstract

Vaccination is a key deterrent to influenza and its related complications and outcomes, including hospitalization and death. Using 2006-09 data, we found a small improvement in vaccination rates among nursing home residents, particularly for blacks. Nonetheless, overall vaccination rates remained well below the 90 percent target for high-quality care, and black nursing home residents remained less likely to be vaccinated than whites. Blacks were less likely to be vaccinated than were whites in the same facility and were more likely to live in facilities with lower vaccination rates. Blacks were also more likely to be noted as refusing vaccination. Strategies are needed to ensure that facilities offer vaccination to all residents and to make vaccination more acceptable to black residents and their families.

Exhibit 2. Likelihood Of Receiving Flu Vaccination Among Black Nursing Home Residents Compared To White Residents, 2006–09

source Authors’ analysis of data on nursing home residents from the national Minimum Data Set (2006–09). notes The percentage indicates the percentage reduction in the odds of receiving vaccination for black residents versus white residents, accounting for the effects of age and sex. All of these numbers are statistically significant (p < 0.01). The overall reductions are statistically significant from the reductions within a facility for each of the three flu seasons (p < 0.01). The sample for each flu season includes only facilities with both eligible black and white residents: 608,296 residents and 8,659 facilities for the 2006–07 flu season; 601,968 residents and 8,767 facilities for the 2007–08 flu season; and 597,063 residents and 8,796 facilities for the 2008–09–flu season. The original odds ratio and confidence intervals related to this exhibit are available in Appendix Table 3. See Note 23 in text.