Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug 18;20(1):763.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05585-9.

Absences from work among healthcare workers: are they related to influenza shot adherence?

Francesca Antinolfi  1 , Claudio Battistella  2   3 , Laura Brunelli  2   4   5 , Francesca Malacarne  2 , Francesco Giuseppe Bucci  2 , Daniele Celotto  2   6 , Roberto Cocconi  4   5 , Silvio Brusaferro  2
Affiliations

Absences from work among healthcare workers: are they related to influenza shot adherence?

Francesca Antinolfi et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: The coverage for influenza vaccination among healthcare workers (HCWs) is inadequate in many countries despite strong recommendations; is there evidence that influenza vaccination is effective in preventing absenteeism? Aim of the study is to evaluate the influenza vaccination coverage and its effects on absences from work among HCWs of an Italian academic healthcare trust during the 2017-2018 influenza season.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study to identify predictive characteristics for vaccination, and a retrospective cohort study to establish the effect of vaccination on absences among the vaccinated and non-vaccinated cohorts between December 2017 and May 2018. Overall absence rates over the whole observation period and sub-rates over 14-days intervals were calculated; then comparison between the two groups were conducted applying Chi-square test.

Results: Influenza vaccination coverage among 4419 HCWs was 14.5%. Age, university degree, medical care area and physician profile were positively associated with vaccine uptake. Globally during influenza season non-vaccinated HCWs lost 2.47/100 person-days of work compared to 1.92/100 person-days of work among vaccinated HCWs (p < 0.001); significant differences in absences rates resulted when focusing on the influenza epidemic peak.

Conclusions: Factors predicting influenza uptake among HCWs were male sex, working within medical care area and being a physician. Absenteeism among HCWs resulted to be negatively correlated with vaccination against influenza. These findings add evidence to the urgent need to implement better influenza vaccination strategies towards HCWs to tackle vaccine hesitancy among professionals.

Keywords: Absences; Coverage; Healthcare workers; Influenza; Vaccination.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Absence rate among vaccinated and not vaccinated HCWs over time, divided in 14 days-long periods. The graph shows the 99.5% confidence intervals for each rate
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Vaccines against influenza WHO position paper – November 2012. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2012;87(47):461–76. http://www.who.int/wer. - PubMed
    1. Iulliano AM, Roguski KM, Chang HH, Muscatello DJ, Palekar R, Tempio S, et al. Estimates of global seasonal influenza-associated respiratory mortality: a modelling study. Lancet. 2018;391(10127):1285–1300. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Elder AG, O'Donnell B, McCruden EA, Symington IS, Carman WF. Incidence and recall of influenza in a cohort of Glasgow healthcare workers during the 1993-4 epidemic: results of serum testing and questionnaire. BMJ. 1996;313(7067):1241–1242. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Potter J, Stott DJ, Roberts MA, Elder AG, O'Donnell B, Knight PV, et al. Influenza vaccination of health care workers in long-term-care hospitals reduces the mortality of elderly patients. J Infect Dis. 1997;175(1):1–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Carman WF, Elder AG, Wallace LA, McAulay K, Walker A, Murray GD, et al. Effects of influenza vaccination of health-care workers on mortality of elderly people in long-term care: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2000;355(9198):93–97. - PubMed

Substances