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
. 2021 Oct 28;31(11):3243-3246.
doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2021.09.002. Epub 2021 Sep 10.

Sars-CoV2 vaccine hesitancy in Italy: A survey on subjects with diabetes

Daniele Scoccimarro  1 , Lorenzo Panichi  1 , Benedetta Ragghianti  2 , Antonio Silverii  1 , Edoardo Mannucci  1 , Matteo Monami  3
Affiliations

Sars-CoV2 vaccine hesitancy in Italy: A survey on subjects with diabetes

Daniele Scoccimarro et al. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Vaccine Hesitancy (VH) is a relevant obstacle for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The aim of this study is to assess the proportion of subjects unwilling to vaccinate among patients with type 1 (T1DM) and 2 (T2DM) diabetes, exploring factors associated with VH.

Methods and results: A purposely created interview was delivered from physicians to a consecutive series of adult (>18 years) subjects with diabetes referring to the Diabetes Outpatient Clinic of Careggi Hospital, Florence, from January 1st to April 30th 2021. Out of 502 subjects enrolled, 92 were vaccine hesitant respondents (18.3%); the corresponding figure for T1DM and T2DM was 13.0% (N = 14), and 19.9% (N = 78), respectively. After adjusting for age, higher HbA1c (1.07 [1.02-1.13], p = 0.008) and triglycerides levels (1.03 [1.01-1.06], p = 0.011) were positively associated with VH, among patients with T1DM. At multivariate analysis, after adjusting for age, creatinine, and statin use, patients with T2DM affected by obesity (9.98 [4.89-9.59], p < 0.01) and with lower levels of creatinine (0.36 [0.21-0.54], p = 0.029) were more likely to refuse COVID vaccination.

Conclusions: Hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccination among subjects with diabetes is not negligible and seems to be more prevalent in individuals with lower adherence to medical prescriptions and/or reduced concerns over their health. This suggests the need for specific interventions to increase awareness and counter prejudices on vaccines.

Keywords: Covid-19; Diabetes; Obesity; Vaccine hesitancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Predictors of vaccine hesitancy among patients with type 2 diabetes in a multivariate logistic regression analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. della Salute Ministero. 2021. Piano vaccinale del commissario straordinario.https://www.governo.it/sites/governo.it/files/210313_Piano_Vaccinale_mar... [Internet]. [cited 2021 Mar 13]. Available from:
    1. Polack F.P., Thomas S.J., Kitchin N., Absalon J., Gurtman A., Lockhart S., et al. Safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA covid-19 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2020 Dec 31;383(27):2603–2615. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baden L.R., El Sahly H.M., Essink B., Kotloff K., Frey S., Novak R., et al. Efficacy and safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. N Engl J Med. 2021 Feb 4;384(5):403–416. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ramasamy M.N., Minassian A.M., Ewer K.J., Flaxman A.L., Folegatti P.M., Owens D.R., et al. Safety and immunogenicity of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine administered in a prime-boost regimen in young and old adults (COV002): a single-blind, randomised, controlled, phase 2/3 trial. Lancet. 2020 Dec 19;396(10267):1979–1993. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johnson and Johnson: Sadoff J., Gray G., Vandebosch A., Cárdenas V., Shukarev G., Grinsztejn B., et al. ENSEMBLE Study Group Safety and efficacy of single-dose Ad26.COV2.S vaccine against covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2021 Apr 21 doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2101544. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33882225. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances