Determining the vaccination rates of diabetic children and the recommendation of the missing vaccines

The children with chronic illnesses like diabetes should be immunized according to the scheme designed for healthy children. Infections especially like influenza, measles, varicella and pnomococcus manifest more severely during chronic illnesses.One hundred and sixty three diabetic children followed in the clinic of pediatric endocrinology in Gazi University Faculty of Medicine are evaluated in this study. The aims were to; determine the vaccination rates of diabetic children, determine the rates of recommendation of vaccination among doctors who are in charge of following these children, to recommend vaccination of influenza, pnomococcus to all, as well as hepatitis A, B, measles, rubella, varicella to those who are seronegative against these agents and to determine the change in vaccination rates after the intervention.The overall rate of recommendation of vaccination was 15.5%, being highest in influenza (75.0%) and being lowest in pnomococcus (4.2%). The rate reached up to 97.5% (n=159) after intervention. The rate of vaccination among diabetic children with or without recommendation was 41.3% (n=66) and this reached up to 97.5% (n=155) for those who had at least one vaccine shot and to 952.0% (n=151) for those who had the shot of all the vaccines that are recommended. Four subjects did not perform any vaccination activity.The probable reasons for the lower-than-expected rates of vaccination among diabetic children are; the lack of recommendation, the lack of awareness of the importance of immunization among the departments which are in charge of follow-up of chronic illnesses, and missing the whole while taking care of the chronic illness itself. The acceptance of vaccination and the rates rise if proper recommendation is performed.In conclusion, immunization should be a part of follow-up of chronic illnesses. As the lack in recommendation leads to missing the opportunity of vaccination, the complete history of vaccination including influenza and pnomococcus shall be recorded during follow up of diabetic children and the lacking ones should be recommended by the clinician.