Food Insecurity and Influenza and Pneumonia Vaccines Uptake Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in the United States

In this study, we analyzed data on 40,555 adults aged  ≥ 65 years from the 2014–2018 National Health Interview Survey in the United States. Through multiple hierarchical logistic regression models, we investigated the associations between food insecurity and influenza and pneumonia vaccines uptake in this population. We found that, during 2014 –2018, about 12.6 million (5.3%) adults aged ≥ 65 years lived in food-insecure households in the United States. Of those, 60.6% reported getting an influenza vaccine in the past 12 months, and 54.2% reported ever getting a pneumonia vaccine. Compared to food-secure older adults, food-inse cure individuals were not significantly different in terms of influenza vaccine uptake. However, they were 25% less likely to have ever gotten a pneumonia vaccine (adjusted odds ratio = 0.75, 95% CI 0.65–0.86,P <  .001). Efforts should be made to develop strategies to improve immunization rates among food-insecure older adults. Healthcare providers could routinely assess their vaccination status and screen them for food insecurity. Also, community level screening and intervention programs should target foo d-insecure older adults, who often face structural disadvantages. Future studies could explore and identify the underlying predictive factors contributing to low pneumonia vaccination rates among food-insecure older adults.
Source: Journal of Community Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research