چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:In Germany, the coverage of officially recommended vaccinations for the elderly is below a desirable
level. It is known that advice provided by General Practitioners and Physician Assistants influences the uptake in
patients≥60 years. Therefore, the predictors of advice-giving behavior by these professions should be investigated
to develop recommendations for possible actions for improvement.
Methods:We conducted a postal cross-sectional survey on knowledge, attitudes and advice - giving behavior
regarding vaccinations in the elderly among General Practitioners and Physician Assistants in 4995 practices in
Germany. To find specific predictors, we performed logistic regressions with non-advising on any officially
recommended vaccination or on three specific vaccinations as four separate outcomes, first using all participants,
then only General Practitioners and lastly only Physician Assistants as our study population.
Results:Participants consisted of 774 General Practitioners and 563 Physician Assistants, of whom overall 21 %
stated to have not advised an officially recommended vaccination in elderly patients. The most frequent
explanation was having forgotten about it. The habit of not counselling on vaccinations at regular intervals was
associated with not advising any vaccination (OR: 2.8), influenza vaccination (OR: 2.3), and pneumococcal
vaccination (OR: 3.1). While more General Practitioners than Physician Assistants felt sufficiently informed (90 % vs.
79 %,p< 0.001), General Practitioners displayed higher odds to not advise specific vaccinations (ORs: 1.8–2.8).
Conclusions:To reduce the high risk of forgetting to advice on vaccinations, we recommend improving and
promoting standing recall-systems, encouraging General Practitioners and Physician Assistants to counsel routinely
at regular intervals regarding vaccinations, and providing Physician Assistants with better, tailor-made information
on official recommendations and their changes.