Awareness of Vaccination against Respiratory Tract Diseases, Including Pneumonia, Influenza, and COVID-19 in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus.

ABSTRACT

Patients with diabetes have an increased risk of severe acute respiratory infections, and vaccination is their life-saving option. This study aimed to investigate the interest and knowledge of patients about influenza, pneumonia, and COVID-19(coronavirus disease 2019) vaccines. Materials. We handed out a questionnaire to patients with diabetes who were admitted to the endocrinology clinic between April and August 2021. The questionnaire collected information on demographic data, knowledge about respiratory tract disease vaccines, and hesitancy about vaccines. Results. Four hundred twenty-four patients (female = 256, male = 168) enrolled in the study. In this study, 148 (34.9%) participants were vaccinated against pneumonia, 155 (36.6%) against flu, and 312 (73.6%) against COVID-19. In addition, antivaccination sentiment was recorded in 8.7% of patients with diabetes. We found that participants in the study primarily rely on doctors as the source of information about vaccines (doctor (46.7%), nurse (1.2%), television (8.7%), friend/neighbour (8.7%), and others (2.6%)). The rate of vaccination was statistically higher than the presence of comorbid diseases. Conclusions. We examined the vaccine awareness of patients with diabetes and investigated factors affecting it. It was determined that vaccination awareness is affected by many factors, especially comorbid diseases and educational status. The study showed that patients primarily relied on doctors as their source of information for vaccination. Doctor-centered vaccination promotion programmes can increase the rate of vaccination.