Vaccination in oncology practice and predictors.
Despite, vaccination is a highly effective and widely recommended for prevention of certain infections, vaccination coverage is very low. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the attitudes of medical oncologists towards vaccination and to identify predictors of intention to recommend vaccination in patients with cancer.



A structured questionnaire is formed to evaluate the daily practice of vaccination. Turkish medical oncologists were invited to this study via email, SMS, or phone call. Questionnaire was filled out and the data were stored in an online survey platform.



Two hundred seventy-three medical oncologists participated in the survey. Influenza, Pneumococcus, and hepatitis B were the most commonly recommended vaccines (87.1, 72.8, 67.0%, respectively). Patients with lung cancer, lymphoma and breast cancer were the main malignancies that medical oncologists suggest vaccination (68.1, 68.1, 24.6%, respectively). The most common times for vaccination were during remission/follow-up period (68.4%) or before beginning chemotherapy (64.1%). Only 23.4% of the physicians thought that their recommendation for vaccination was efficient and adequate. Lack of time and lack of knowledge or experience about vaccination are the most common limitations. There is a positive correlation between experience in the field and evaluating patients for vaccination (r = 0.390, p < 0.001); on the other hand, there is negative correlation between number of patients seen per day and evaluating patients for vaccination (r = -0.080, p = 0.18). Experience with autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplant patients is related with more tendency to evaluate patients for vaccination (p < 0.001).



Degree of experience in oncology especially in bone marrow transplant units and total number of patients seen per day are important predictors of vaccination practice in oncology. The frequency of recommendation increases with degree of experience, knowledge, and visit time per patient.
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. alkanali@yahoo.com.|Internal Medicine, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. alkanali@yahoo.com.
Ali
A
Alkan
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Ebru
E
Karcı
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Arzu
A
Yaşar
Internal Medicine, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Gülseren
G
Tuncay
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Elif Berna
EB
Köksoy
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Muslih
M
Ürün
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Filiz Çay
FÇ
Şenler
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Ahmet
A
Demirkazık
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Güngör
G
Utkan
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Hakan
H
Akbulut
Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Yüksel
Y
Ürün
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination / Q000379:methods*
Cancer; Oncology; Primary prophylaxis; Vaccination