Ab1339 What Is the Awareness Level of Rheumatology Patients, Physicians and Other Health Care Professionals About Vaccination in Rheumatology? Does Education Contribute to Increasing Awareness?

Background: In rheumatology, vaccination is crucial, but patients, physicians, and other healthcare workers may not always recognize this in their day-to-day work. Objectives: To evaluate the vaccination awareness of rheumatology patients using biological and targeted synthetic DMARDs, as well as the physicians and other healthcare professionals who follow them, and investigate the vaccination rates of the patients at the beginning and after the relevant training. Methods: The study included rheumatic patients on biological and targeted synthetic DMARDs, the physicians and other healthcare professionals in a national registry, TURKBIO. To measure their awareness level about vaccinations in rheumatic diseases, standardized questionnaires prepared differently for each three groups were used. After the first questionnaires, the frequency of vaccination in patients was recorded. During subsequent visits, patients were given training by standardized booklets on vaccination in rheumatic diseases. At the end of one year, the initial patient questionnaires were administered again and evaluated. Face-to-face training on vaccination was given to the physicians and other healthcare professionals, and the surveys administered before and immediately after the training were also evaluated. Results: A total of 488 patients (54% female; mean age: 46 years) were included in the study. At initial questionnaires, 40.7% of the patients reported that rheumatic diseases or the medications used would predispose them to infection, but 54.4% had no idea about preventive vaccines. While the pre-training vaccination rates were mostly listed as influenza (28.1%), hepatitis B (28.1%) and pneumococcal (15.3%) vaccines, after the training, this rate was respectively influenza (36.7%), pneumococcal (32.1%) and hepatitis B (31.8%). A statistically significant increase in influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations was detected after the training. Vaccinated patients reported that they most often received vaccination information from their physicians. The most common reason for not getting vaccinated was lack of knowledge on this subject. 35.7% of the patients reported that the Covid-19 pandemic increased the vaccination awareness. Survey results showed that all physicians (n=16) thought that rheumatic diseases and the medications used created a predisposition to infections and that vaccination was necessary. 56.3% of the physicians had previously received vaccination training and felt competent in this regard; 93.8% recommended vaccination to their patients. The most frequently recommended vaccines were hepatitis B (93.3%), influenza (86.7%) and pneumococcal (80% polysaccharide, 73.3% conjugate vaccine) vaccines. 75% of the physicians had a vaccination out-patient clinic at the center where they worked. After the short face-to-face training given to them, the rate of physicians feeling competent in vaccination significantly increased (56.3% vs 93.8%, p=0.015). The results of the first questionnaire applied to other healthcare personnel showed that 90% of the participants (n = 11) thought that rheumatic diseases and treatments predisposed patients to infection. All of them reported that vaccination was necessary. None of the other healthcare personnel had received training on this subject before, and only 36.4% were recommending vaccination to patients. After the training, this rate increased to 63.6%. Conclusion: This study showed that patients with rheumatism do not have sufficient knowledge about vaccination. It was observed that vaccinated patients most frequently had their vaccinations upon the recommendation of their doctors, while the most common reason for not receiving the vaccine was lack of information. It was also observed that the vaccination rates of patients could increase with education. Likewise, it was determined that doctors and other healthcare professionals felt more competent in this regard after the training and recommended more vaccinations to the patients. REFERENCES: NIL. This study was funded by Pfizer, Turkey. Table 1. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.