Social capital and immunisation against the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic in Sweden

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the connection between social capital indicators and immunisation.

Method: The national Society Opinion & Media (SOM) survey is an annual cross-sectional postal survey. In 2009, a random sample of persons aged 16-85 was drawn from the Swedish national register and yielded a 59% participation rate. The number of respondents analysed was 2130. A multiple logistic regression model was used to investigate the connection between the explanatory variables institutional trust and generalised trust and the outcome variable immunisation intent. The analyses included sex, age, education, self-rated health, and personal and societal concern about the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic.

Results: For institutional trust in health care, the odds ratios for intention to vaccinate against the A(H1N1) pandemic were significantly higher in the Medium trust and High trust categories as compared to the Low trust reference category. For generalised trust, the odds ratio for vaccination intention was significantly higher in the High trust category as compared to the Low trust reference category.

Conclusions: Two important social capital indicators - institutional trust in health care and generalised trust - seem to be independently associated with intention to accept vaccination against the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic. The effect holds also when controlling for plausible confounders, such as education, self-rated health, and personal and societal concern about the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic.

Keywords: A(H1N1); Sweden; generalised trust; immunisation; institutional trust; social capital.