Previously submitted to: JMIR Formative Research (no longer under consideration since Dec 13, 2023)
Date Submitted: Dec 5, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Dec 5, 2022 - Dec 19, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Impact Factors of COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy in patients after lung cancer surgery: A outpatient-based cross-sectional study in Chongqing Cancer Center
Background:
The safety and efficacy of several vaccine candidates have been tested and found to be effective and safe against COVID-19. The effectiveness of pandemic vaccination campaigns depends on the vaccine’s efficacy and people’s willingness to be vaccinated. People with cancer should be prioritized for being fully COVID-19 vaccinated due to being highly vulnerable to COVID-19 and having a poor prognosis after infection. But little is known about the actual level of people with lung cancer willing to accept a COVID-19 vaccine and the impact factors that affect acceptability.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in lung cancer patients after surgery and characterize underlying factors contributing to reluctance.
Methods:
This study was an outpatient-based cross-sectional study in the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. A clinical survey was inducted from May 1, 2021, to August 20, 2021. Eligible participants were 18 years or older, were diagnosed with lung cancer, and received lung cancer surgery, including lobectomy, sub-lobectomy, and pneumonectomy. Data were collected on a self-administered questionnaire from 294 lung cancer patients after surgery.
Results:
A total of 281 participants were included in the final analysis. Among the participants, 152 (54.1%) were female, 93.6% were of Han ethnicity, and most participants (88.3%) had married. Of these patients, 135 (48.0%) were in pathologic stage I, 36.3% in stage II, 10.3% in stage III, and 5.3% in stage IV. The willingness to take COVID-19 vaccination was 164 (58.4%), whereas 117 (41.6%) expressed their hesitancy/refusal. Vaccine hesitancy was higher in patients with men aged ≥ 60 years, lower educational level, short duration of cancer (<3 years), lower self-report health condition, recent lung cancer-related treatments, and postoperative pain (P all <.001). In multivariable regression analysis, age over 60 years old, low educational level, duration of cancer (< 1 year), subjective health status, current cancer treatments use, presence of postoperative pain, and report of the items “ever hesitated or refused to get a vaccination,” “get negative information about getting the COVID-19 vaccine”, “worried about vaccine adverse reactions,” and “worried about the COVID vaccine interferes with cancer treatments” were independently associated with hesitant of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Conclusions:
Vaccine hesitancy is common among lung cancer patients after surgery, related mainly to health status and concerns about side effects, worsens cancer prognosis, and interferes with cancer treatments. These results suggest that vaccination programs may need tailoring to specific populations'hesitancy.
Clinicaltrial:
Citation
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