Razones de no asistencia a un programa de cribado mamográfico

Objetivo. El objetivo general de este trabajo es el estudio de los factores psicosociales asociados con la asistencia a un programa de cribado mamográfico. Método. Con un diseño retrospectivo se analizan las razones de no asistencia dadas por una muestra de mujeres que rechazaron participar en un programa de cribado (N=384). Además, se compararon algunas creencias específicas de salud mantenidas por estas mujeres con las de un grupo de mujeres que sí acudieron a dicho programa (N=715). Resultado. Las razones de no asistencia aducidas por las mujeres que no acudieron al programa tenían que ver con la invitación al mismo (no haber recibido la carta, pérdida u olvido), limitaciones personales (obligaciones familiares, enfermedad, trabajo), considerar que la mamografía es innecesaria en ausencia de síntomas y miedo a los resultados de la misma. El análisis de diferencias a nivel de creencias de salud entre asistentes y no asistentes confirmaron estos resultados y permitieron identificar diversas actitudes específicas asociadas con la participación en el programa. Cabe destacar la creencia en que es importante llevar a cabo actividades que mejoren la salud, que la mamografía permitiría empezar pronto un tratamiento si se tuviera algo malo, que este procedimiento no supone un pérdida de tiempo, y, sobre todo, que las personas significativas del entorno consideran importante para la propia mujer realizarse mamografías. Conclusiones. Los resultados clarifican algunos de los factores sobre los que hay que incidir a la hora de incrementar la participación de las mujeres en un programa de cribado mamográficoObjective. The present study analyses the psychosocial factors associated with participation in a mammography screening program. Methods. A retrospective design was used to analyze the reasons for non-attendance given by a sample of women who declined to participate in a mammography screening program (N=384). Some specific health beliefs held by the non-attendees were also compared with those of a group of women who accepted participating in the screening program (N=715). Results. Some important reasons stated by non-attendees referred to the invitation to the program (not receiving the letter, losing or forgetting it), personal restrictions (family obligations, illness, work), considering screening to be unnecessary in the absence of symptoms, and fear of the results of mammography. Analysis of the differences in health beliefs between participants and non participants confirmed these results, and identified a number of specific attitudes associated with participation in the mammography screening program. These include the belief that it is important to perform actions to improve health, that mammography screening would lead to early treatment if there was anything wrong, that this procedure is not a waste of time, and especially that salient others consider it important that women undergo breast screening. Conclusions. The results of our study clarify some beliefs and attitudes that should be stressed in order to increase participation in a mammography screening program

Uncertainty and sensitivity of the sexual behavior changes to the current human papillomavirus vaccination campaign in Spain

Taking into account the public health importance of the human papillomavirus (HPV) control in the future, it is mandatory to assess the effect of the vaccination campaigns on the control of HPV spread and the associated diseases using reliable mathematical models. We propose a computational random network model with the aim of studying the transmission dynamics of HPV infections. This model reflects the herd immunity effect in the heterosexual network more accurately than the classical models. We perform a sensitivity analysis of the sexual behavior changes consisting of increasing the number of men who have sex with men (MSM), increasing the frequency of the intercourses and increasing the number of sexual partners. We find that large changes in the sexual behavior, in some extent, only have minor effects on the decline of the HPV infections in women and men in the current vaccination campaign in Spain (vaccination of young girls with a coverage of 70%). Therefore, the current vaccination program in Spain is robust for the heterosexuals. However, we cannot say the same for MSM, where they do not benefit by the herd immunity effect of the vaccination of girls, and consequently, the circulation of the virus among them remains unchanged. A consequence of the present study is that the effect of other external factors that may affect the transmission dynamics of the HPV, for instance, the tourism or the immigration, does not influence the protection provided by the current Spanish vaccination program.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER UE) grant MTM2017-89664-P. This paper has been supported by the European Union through the Operational Program of the [European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) / European Social Fund (ESF)] of the Valencian Community 2014-2020. Files: GJIDI/2018/A/010 and GJIDI/2018/A/009

Razones de no asistencia a un programa de cribado mamográfico

Objetivo. El objetivo general de este trabajo es el estudio de los factores psicosociales asociados con la asistencia a un programa de cribado mamográfico. Método. Con un diseño retrospectivo se analizan las razones de no asistencia dadas por una muestra de mujeres que rechazaron participar en un programa de cribado (N=384). Además, se compararon algunas creencias específicas de salud mantenidas por estas mujeres con las de un grupo de mujeres que sí acudieron a dicho programa (N=715). Resultado. Las razones de no asistencia aducidas por las mujeres que no acudieron al programa tenían que ver con la invitación al mismo (no haber recibido la carta, pérdida u olvido), limitaciones personales (obligaciones familiares, enfermedad, trabajo), considerar que la mamografía es innecesaria en ausencia de síntomas y miedo a los resultados de la misma. El análisis de diferencias a nivel de creencias de salud entre asistentes y no asistentes confirmaron estos resultados y permitieron identificar diversas actitudes específicas asociadas con la participación en el programa. Cabe destacar la creencia en que es importante llevar a cabo actividades que mejoren la salud, que la mamografía permitiría empezar pronto un tratamiento si se tuviera algo malo, que este procedimiento no supone un pérdida de tiempo, y, sobre todo, que las personas significativas del entorno consideran importante para la propia mujer realizarse mamografías. Conclusiones. Los resultados clarifican algunos de los factores sobre los que hay que incidir a la hora de incrementar la participación de las mujeres en un programa de cribado mamográfic

Willingness to Be Vaccinated against COVID-19 in Spain before the Start of Vaccination: A Cross-Sectional Study

Vaccine hesitancy has increased in the past few years, influenced by the socio-cultural differences, political populism, or concerns related to the effectiveness and safety of some vaccines, resulting a feeling of distrust. This feeling can become a barrier against the achievement of the immunity necessary to stop the expansion of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptance of the vaccine against COVID-19 in Spain, as well as to identify the factors that have an influence on the concerns and attitudes of people against accepting the vaccine in the months prior to the start of vaccination on December 2020. An online questionnaire was created to obtain information about (1) sociodemographic characteristics; (2) concerns and sources of information about vaccines; and (3) attitudes about vaccination and state of health. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the influencing factors. Of the 2501 participants, 1207 (48.3%) would accept the COVID-19 vaccine, 623 (24.9%) were hesitant, and 671 (26.8%) would reject it. The logistic regression showed that being male, older than 60, married, retired, with a high level of education, or with a leftist political inclination, could increase the probability of accepting the COVID-19 vaccine. Disinformation and the lack of political consensus were the main sources of distrust. The patients with hypertension, immunodepression, hypercholesterolemia, or respiratory disease, or were overweight, showed a greater acceptance to the vaccine, while those with cancer took the longest to accept it. A low acceptance of the vaccine against COVID-19 was observed among the Spanish population in the phase prior to its availability, and the main fears of the population were identified. It is necessary to offer correct and transparent information about these vaccines to reduce the concerns and increase the trust of the population, to thereby guarantee the success of the vaccination campaigns

Detection of Neutralizing Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Post-Vaccination in Health Care Workers of a Large Tertiary Hospital in Spain by Using a Rapid Test LFIC and sVNT-ELISA

The presence of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against SARS-CoV-2 represent a surrogate marker of immunologic protection in populations at high risk of infection such as healthcare workers caring for hospitalized patients with COVID-19. As recommended by CDC and the European CDC, the use of rapid diagnostic tests during population-based evaluations offers an opportunity to identify individuals with serologic evidence of natural infection or who have undergone vaccination. We carried out a cross-sectional study to assess the presence of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among medical providers at an intensive care unit of a large referral hospital in Alicante, Spain. In addition, we tested for the presence of neutralizing antibodies compared to serum of uninfected individuals from a Biobank. We were also interested in evaluating the use of a rapid lateral flow immunochromatography (LFIC) test against a surrogate ELISA viral neutralization test (sVNT). This rapid test demonstrated a specificity of 1.000 95% CI (0.91–1.00) and the sensitivity of 0.987 95% CI (0.93–1.00). The negative predictive value was 95%. After six months, this rapid test demonstrated that those immunized with two doses of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, maintained optimal levels of neutralizing antibodies. We concluded that all Health Care Workers develop NAbs and the use of this rapid immunochromatographic test represents a potential tool to be used in population-based studies to detect serological antibody responses to vaccination. Vaccination policies could benefit from this tool to assess additional doses of vaccine or boosters among high-risk populations.This work was supported by an advisory contract from the University of Alicante with reference WENZHOU-OJABIO1-21T and no one reports personal fees received from the biotech company

Effectiveness of influenza vaccination programme in preventing hospital admissions, Valencia, 2014/15 early results

Preliminary results for the 2014/15 season indicate low to null effect of vaccination against influenza A(H3N2)-related disease. As of week 5 2015, there have been 1,136 hospital admissions, 210 were due to influenza and 98% of subtype A strains were H3. Adjusted influenza vaccine effectiveness was 33% (range: 6–53%) overall and 40% (range: 13% to 59%) in those 65 years and older. Vaccination reduced by 44% (28–68%) the probability of admission with influenza.The study was funded by a contract between FISABIO and Sanofi-Pasteur

Determinants of seasonal influenza vaccination in pregnant women in Valencia, Spain

Background: In most countries the coverage of seasonal influenza vaccination in pregnant women is low. We investigated the acceptance, reasons for rejection and professional involvement related to vaccine information in pregnant women in Valencia, Spain. Methods: Observational retrospective study in 200 pregnant women, 100 vaccinated and 100 unvaccinated, were interviewed during the 2014/2015 vaccination campaign. Electronic medical records, immunization registry and telephone interviews were used to determine reasons for vaccination and immunization rejection. Results: 40.5% of pregnant women in the health department were vaccinated. The midwife was identified as source of information for 89% of women. The vaccine was rejected due to low perceptions of risk of influenza infection (23%), lack of information (19%), considering the vaccine as superfluous (16%), close proximity of delivery date (13%) and fear of side effects (12%). Conclusion: Pregnant women in Spain declined to be vaccinated due to under-estimation of the risk of contracting or being harmed by influenza, and lack of information. Interventions aiming to optimize vaccination coverage should include information addressing the safety and effectiveness of the current vaccine together with improved professional training and motivation