UCI Researchers Find Sociodemographic Characteristics Differ Across Routine Adult Vaccine Cohorts
In a recent descriptive study, a group of UC Irvine researchers examined the sociodemographic, health status, and lifestyle factors associated with adult vaccinations. This research identifies opportunities to improve vaccination rates using electronic health records data available in the National Institutes of Health All of Us research program.
Published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, this study noted several characteristics that differ between people with a record of certain vaccines compared to the cumulative All of Us cohort.
Non-Hispanic/Latino and White participants were more likely to receive a pneumococcal vaccination, which helps prevent pneumonia and other serious bacterial infections, starting and extending past 65 years old. This may be explained by health insurance enrollment, higher income, and higher education levels. Similar trends were observed for HPV, HBV, and influenza vaccinations.
Another pattern noted higher vaccination rates in Black or African American participants for pneumococcal vaccinations before reaching the age of 65 years old.
These observed vaccination rates may be related to a higher prevalence of diabetes, chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases that are vaccine indications in Black or African American participants. Future research is needed to determine if access to pneumococcal vaccination is equitable among patients with these chronic diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says adults should receive a pneumococcal vaccination if they are 65 years and older or are 19 through 64 years old with certain medical conditions or other risk factors.
“However, equitable access to this and other vaccines – HPV, HBV and influenza – is inadequate,” says Quinton Ng, first author and UCI pharmaceutical sciences PhD student. “Most, if not all, health insurance plans cover the costs for routine vaccinations, leaving those without health insurance as the most vulnerable groups, in addition to individuals with lower education and income levels. This study demonstrates the need to strategize education and funding efforts to improve equitable vaccination access.”
This literature builds on the urgency to address healthcare inequity amid racial and ethnic disparities. Additionally, it demonstrates the utility of health databases in studying vaccine epidemiology and emerging statistical methods that account for missing data.
Keri Hurley-Kim, health sciences associate clinical professor, is the co-corresponding author. Additional co-authors include Stanley Jia, data research assistant, and professors Cheryl Wisseh, Christine Cadiz, Megan Nguyen, Joyce Lee, Sarah McBane, Lee Nguyen, and Alexandre Chan from the UCI School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.