Health information technology tools improve pneumonia vaccination rates in COPD patients
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Key takeaways:
- Health information technology (HIT) use by patients with COPD was incrementally associated with pneumococcal vaccine uptake, researchers found.
- 48.3% of patients used one HIT tool within the past year.
BOSTON — Researchers found an incremental association between the usage of health information technology and pneumococcal vaccine uptake among patients with COPD, according to data presented at the CHEST Annual Meeting.
As most COPD exacerbations are caused by infections such as pneumonia, health information technology (HIT) could be a useful tool to help reduce COPD exacerbations by facilitating vaccine appointment scheduling and reminders, according to the researchers.
“Our abstract highlights the importance of promoting the use of HIT among patients in both ambulatory and hospital settings,” Yvette Yeboah-Kordieh, MBChB, MPH, internal medicine resident at MedStar Health, told Healio. “This should include focusing on how to effectively use HIT tools during clinic visits and at discharge.”
Inspired by the impact of HIT on COVID-19 vaccination incidence, Yeboah-Kordieh and colleagues performed a study to investigate the association between pneumococcal vaccination among individuals with COPD and the utilization of HIT.
The cross-sectional study included 129,717 participants aged 40 to 79 years (mean age, 58.3 years ± 10.9 years) who received a diagnosis of COPD and were included in the 2010-2018 National Health Interview Survey.
All participants had responded to survey questions regarding their use of computers for healthcare-related activities in the past year, such as for obtaining prescriptions, scheduling appointments, seeking health information or communicating with health care providers via email. Researchers then grouped the patients into categories based on their usage of HIT, from no usage to usage of one, two, three or four HIT tools.
Overall, 32.3% of the participants reported receiving at least one pneumococcal vaccine and 90.4% had insurance coverage.
Further, 48.3% of patients had engaged in at least one form of HIT. They found that 45.5% of patients sought health information on the internet, 9.3% refilled prescriptions online and 8.3% scheduled health appointments online.
After adjusting for age, sex at birth, educational attainment, employment status shortly before survey data collection, health insurance coverage and smoking status, Yeboah-Kordieh and colleagues found that the utilization of one to four HIT tools was associated with increased pneumococcal vaccinations rates compared with no use of HIT.
Specifically, results showed a 28% (adjusted OR = 1.28) increase for use of one HIT tool, a 73% increase (aOR = 1.74) for use of two tools, a 110% increase (aOR = 2.1) for use of three tools and a 272% increase (aOR = 2.72; P < .001 for all) for use of four tools.
“We anticipated a certain level of association between HIT use and pneumococcal vaccination rates. However, we did not expect the association to be as pronounced when multiple HIT tools were utilized,” Yeboah-Kordieh told Healio.
Future studies should continue to identify how different HIT tools can be incorporated into preventative health practices, she added.
For more information:
Yvette Yeboah-Kordieh, can be reached at yvette.a.yeboah-koedieh@medstar.net.