Influenza vaccination in old adults in Spain

Background: to describe population patterns of influenza vaccination, and to analyse the effect of a set of demographic, socio‐economic status, lifestyles, health status, and health services variables, on the likelihood of being vaccinated in the those ≥65 years. Methods: Cross‐sectional study. From the 1997 National Health Survey those ≥65 years old were selected. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated through multiple logistic regression models, reporting having an influenza vaccination last season as a dependent variable. Results: A total sample of 1148 was analysed: 51.3% of subjects reported having received a vaccination last year. Adjusted odds ratios showed that the risk of not having been vaccinated was higher for people from 65–69 years (OR: 1.70; 95% CI [1.32–2.19], women (OR: 1.48; 95% CI [1.14–1.92]), residents in cities of more than 1 million inhabitants (OR: 1.74; 95% CI [1.12–2.70]), smokers (OR: 1.92; 95% CI [1.24–2.96)], having high‐risk chronic conditions (OR: 1.41; 95% CI [1.08–1.85], and for those whose last physician visit was between 2 weeks and 6 months ago (OR: 1.40; 95% CI [1.07–1.85], and more than 6 months ago (OR: 2.13; 95% CI [1.52–2.98]. Conclusion: Influenza vaccination levels are sub‐optimal. Factors that have been identified as barriers to receiving this effective intervention are: younger age, female sex, less contact with the health care system, smokers, and not having high‐risk chronic conditions. No effect was found for socio‐economic status or variables related with health, functional status or other health‐related behaviours. This study may contribute to identifying population groups who could be targeted for health promotion interventions aimed to improve their influenza vaccination uptake.