Parents' Attitudes toward Childhood Vaccines and COVID-19 Vaccines in a Turkish Pediatric Outpatient Population.

Vaccination hesitancy (VH) is an important public health issue. The determinants of parental decisions on whether to vaccinate their children are multidimensional and need to be carefully considered in the COVID-19 era. Our study aims to investigate the prevalence of VH among parents, parents' use of social media, and their attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine upon vaccine refusal. Materials and methods: Our participants were the parents of children admitted to hospitals in three different cities in Turkey between September 2021 and December 2021. The parents were asked to complete sociodemographic data and their attitudes toward COVID-19 diseases, the Parental Attitudes Toward Childhood Vaccines (PACV) scale, and the Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccine (ATV-COVID-19) scale. Participants were categorized as "non-hesitant", with a score of <50, and "hesitant", with a score of ≥50. Results: A total of 1087 parents with a mean age of 33.66 (SD 9.1) years old participated in the study. VH was noted in 102 (9.38%) parents. Age, gender, education, and income levels did not significantly differ from one another, according to the PACV; however, parents who delayed vaccinating their children and indicated that social media had an impact on vaccination decisions were more hesitant. Parents who were male and had a family member diagnosed with COVID-19 showed more positive attitudes in the ATV-COVID-19. Parents who were hesitant about childhood vaccinations had lower positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine (2.84 ± 0.97) than parents who were not hesitant (3.77 ± 0.9). A total of 761 (70.14%) parents need more information about childhood immunizations. Conclusion: Parents who are hesitant about childhood immunization programs in Turkey have a less positive attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines and are affected by social media. Parents need information about vaccines, and because the controversy surrounding COVID-19 vaccines can diminish parents' confidence in routine childhood immunizations, understanding the complex causes behind vaccination hesitancy can help public health policy break through barriers and increase immunization rates.

Immunization status and re-immunization of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors.

Intensive chemotherapy can cause long-lasting immunosuppression in children who survived cancer. The immunosuppression varies according to the type of cancer, intensity of chemotherapy and age of the patient. A sufficient immune reconstruction when has been completed in childhood cancer survivors, the re-vaccination program can achieve sufficient antibody levels for some of the life-threatening vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. This study evaluates the serological status of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cases before and after the intensive chemotherapy treatment. Antibodies against measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, hepatitis A and B were tested with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Antibody titers were measured firstly at the leukemia diagnosis time when the chemotherapy was not started. The second evaluation of antibody titers was studied at 6 months after the cessation of chemotherapy for all patients. Forty-six patients with the mean age of 6.1 ± 4.5 years were participated in this study. Changing to seronegative after treatment was significantly different in measles, rubella, hepatitis A and hepatitis B (p < .05). Seventy-eight (28%) antibody levels in the patients were non-protective for all diseases. Only three (7%) patients had protective antibody levels for all diseases in the sixth month of chemotherapy cessation. There was a negative correlation between patient's age and losing protective antibody levels for any vaccine-preventable disease (p < .05). Antibody levels against vaccine-preventable diseases have evident that reduced after ALL treatment at childhood. Pediatric ALL survivors must be re-vaccinated for vaccine-preventable diseases after achieving immune reconstruction.

The quality of life of mothers of children with spina bifida.

Spina bifida (SB) is a common birth defect associated with significant lifelong morbidity. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of life and psychological status of mothers of children with SB. In this study, we included 30 mothers with children with SB and 30 mothers of healthy children. The groups were similar for background variables (child's age, sex, and number of siblings; mother's age, marital status; economic status of the families, and presence of health insurance). The 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were administered to all mothers. Except for social functioning and mental health, all SF-36 subscale scores were significantly lower and the mean STAI and BDI scores were higher for mothers of children with SB (P<0.001). SF-36, STAI, and BDI scores were not associated significantly with the child's age, sex, number of siblings, and mother's age. This study shows that the quality of life is affected negatively for mothers of children with SB. The clinician should pay close attention to the psychosocial status of mothers of these children within the scope of disease management.