AB1157 SEASONAL INFLUENZA VACCINATION: KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES IN RHEUMATIC PATIENTS

Abstract

Background: Vaccines are one of the safest and effective public health interventions (1). Patients with rheumatic diseases (RD) have a higher risk of morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable infections (2). Seasonal Influenza vaccination (SIV) had shown to reduce the incidence, complications, admissions, and mortality from Influenza in patients with RD (3). Vaccine hesitancy is one of the threats to global health established by the WHO. Objective(s): To assess the knowledge and attitudes of rheumatic patients about SIV. Method(s): A self-questionnaire was applied during a community speech for rheumatic patients in October 2019 and also was applied in the rheumatology clinic of the university hospital "Dr. Jose Eleuterio Gonzalez" in Monterrey, Mexico, between November and December 2019. The questionnaire asks age, rheumatic diagnosis, and ten questions. Results are shown in descriptive statistics, the Chisquare and Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to compare groups. A P-value