title: Influenza vaccination uptake amongst pregnant women and maternal care providers is suboptimal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the uptake of influenza vaccination by pregnant women and maternity care providers and explore their attitudes towards influenza vaccination.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey administered in a Victorian tertiary level public hospital to 337 pregnant women and 96 maternity care providers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  31.3% of patients planned to or had received influenza vaccination this year, but only a quarter had received education about influenza. Women were more likely to receive influenza vaccination if they had been vaccinated in the last two years (RR 4.5, 95% CI: 3.1-6.4, p<0.001), received education about influenza (RR 2.3, 95% CI: 1.6-3.2, p<0.001) or believed that they were at high risk of influenza-related complications while pregnant (RR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.4-2.7, p<0.001). While only 56.8% of maternity care providers believed pregnant women were at high risk of influenza-related complications, 72.9% would recommend influenza vaccination to all pregnant women. Of the maternity care providers studied, 69% planned to or had been vaccinated in 2011, with this group more likely to recommend vaccination to their patients (RR 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3-3.0, p<0.001). Significantly more maternity care providers indicated that they would routinely recommend influenza vaccination than the proportion of patients who reported receiving education.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Influenza vaccination rates in pregnant women are low, reflecting inadequate patient education despite most maternity care providers indicating that they would routinely recommend influenza vaccination. Increasing influenza vaccination uptake by women in pregnancy will require better education of both women and maternity care providers.
authors.affiliation: Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Angela B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Alia Abd
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Halim
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dendle
authors.forename: Despina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kotsanas
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.forename: Euan M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Jim P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Buttery
authors.forename: Rhonda L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Stuart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014739:Victoria
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines