Determinants of partial or no primary immunisations.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if different factors affect children having full, partial or no primary immunisations.


METHODS
This was a crossgenerational cohort study with linkage to primary care and hospital records conducted in urban and rural settings in Ireland, recruiting in 2001-2003 with 5-year follow-up. A total of 749 children with immunisation information took part.


RESULTS
The uptake of reported primary immunisations was 92.8% full, 4.9% partial and 2.3% no primary immunisations. Adjusted relative risk ratios for children receiving no primary immunisations were significant for: having a mother who had ever visited an alternative practitioner 3.69 (1.05 to 12.9), a mother with means tested full general medical services eligibility 8.11 (1.58 to 41.65), a mother who scored <50 for the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHO-QOL) scale psychological domain 8.82 (1.79 to 43.6) or living in the west of Ireland (rural) 3.64 (1.0 to 13.2). Being born prematurely was associated with partial primary immunisation, adjusted OR 4.63 (1.24 to 17.3).


CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge of these differences will help target campaigns to increase full uptake of primary immunisations.
Jessop
L J
LJ
School of Public Health and Population Science, Woodview House, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. cecily.kelleher@ucd.ie
Kelleher
C C
CC
Murrin
C
C
Lotya
J
J
Clarke
A T
AT
O'Mahony
D
D
Fallon
U B
UB
Johnson
H
H
Bury
G
G
Murphy
A W
AW
D000328:Adult; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data