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Vaccination adherence in hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients: a pilot study on the impact of vaccination cards and reminder telephone calls
Author(s) -
Lerchenfeldt S.M.,
Cronin S.M.,
Chandrasekar P.H.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
transplant infectious disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1399-3062
pISSN - 1398-2273
DOI - 10.1111/tid.12110
Subject(s) - medicine , vaccination , vaccination schedule , neutropenia , hematopoietic stem cell transplantation , pediatrics , immunology , transplantation , immunization , immune system , chemotherapy
Background The K armanos C ancer C enter B one M arrow T ransplant ( KCC BMT ) Center updated the vaccination protocol for transplant patients based on joint guidelines recently published by E uropean B one M arrow T ransplantation, C enters for D isease C ontrol, I nfectious D iseases S ociety of A merica, and the A merican S ociety for B one M arrow T ransplantation. The objectives for this study were to determine the impact of vaccination cards and telephone outreach on vaccine adherence and to determine the reasons for missed or delayed vaccinations. Methods Retrospective analysis consisted of autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant ( HSCT ) patients at the KCC BMT Clinic who received vaccines based on the guidelines published in 2009. Adherence was calculated as percentage of vaccines missed over the vaccination period. Results Overall, 37 of 111 patients (33%) missed at least 1 vaccine set and 29 patients (26%) received 1 set later than recommended. Reasons for missed and delayed vaccines included neutropenia/thrombocytopenia, anticoagulation, active infection, and graft‐versus‐host complications. Conclusions Current guidelines recommend a complex vaccination schedule for the HSCT recipients, which may lead to difficulties with adherence. Our study shows that missed and delayed vaccinations are common in both autologous and allogeneic HSCT recipients. Methods to improve adherence are needed.