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Objectives: S. pneumoniae is an important mortality and morbidity factor that may cause pneumonia, meningitis, septicemia especially in elderly, children, immunosuppressive patients and patients with comorbid diseases. Recent guidelines recommend Pneumococcal vaccines for patients with chronic lung diseases and people older than 65 years. In this study we aimed to investigate the vaccination rate for pneumococcal conjugated vaccines (PCV) applied free of charge since January 2017.
Methods: Between January 1, 2017 and October 30, 2018, age, gender, vaccination indication and referring clinic information were evaluated retrospectively from “vaccination room “ data. The data of the patients who were admitted to our outpatient clinics with the diagnosis of chronic lung diseases under the age of 65 and above 65 years were obtained from the hospital automation system.
Results: Between January 1, 2017 and October 30, 2018, totally 2146 patients underwent PCV. Of the patients, 58.5% were male and the mean age was 62±14 (16-96). The most common diagnosis was COPD (45%), asthma (20.9%) and bronchiectasis (10.4%). Among the dates of the study, 141.368 patients were admitted to the outpatient clinic of outpatient clinic. According to the data obtained in the automation system, 35,197 patients were over 65 years of age, 36,596 patients had COPD, 31,480 patients had asthma, 7,722 patients had bronchiectasis, 2160 patients had diffuse parenchymal lung disease, and 4791 patients had lung cancer diagnosis codes. Vaccination rate was 2.8% in patients presenting with COPD, 2.7% in patients older than 65 years, 1.4% in patients with asthma, 1.3% in patients with bronchiectasis. In COPD and pulmonary rehabilitation outpatient clinics, 4,2% of 3210 COPD patients admitted with COPD were vaccinated.
Conclusion: The vaccination rate was low in outpatient clinics besides the importance of vaccination is well known, the awareness for vaccination was higher in clinics dealing with specific patient groups.