Factors influencing on influenza vaccination and its trends of coverage in patients with diabetes in Korea: A population-based cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Influenza infection is a contagious disease and annual influenza vaccination is recommended to the patients with chronic diseases. Although diabetes is an indication for influenza vaccination, the global rate of influenza vaccination is insufficient. Therefore, our study aimed to elucidate influenza vaccination statuses among patients with diabetes and the related factors in Korea. Methods A total of 32,268 subjects (4,540 with and 27,728 without diabetes) from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III–VI (2005–2015) were included. Socioeconomic factors and health-related factors were analyses for the relation of influenza vaccination by Student's t -test, the chi-squared test and a multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results The influenza vaccination coverage rates were 50.0% in the diabetes mellitus (DM) group and 38.2% in the non-DM group. The trends in influenza vaccination rates during KNHANES III–VI were not significant in each group (P trend  =  0.24 in the DM group, 0.30 in the non-DM group). Socioeconomic (older age, female sex, higher family income, and medical aid insurance) and health-related factors (lack of risky alcohol consumption, obesity, and recent health check-ups) were associated with influenza vaccination among patients with DM. Conclusions The rate of influenza vaccination among patients with diabetes is insufficient in Korea. More efforts are needed to increase the influenza vaccination rates among vulnerable at-risk populations.