A Descriptive Evaluation of Health Literacy and Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among Patients with IgA Nephropathy with High Vaccine Uptake

Abstract

Aims: Shared decision-making regarding COVID-19 vaccination in IgA nephropathy involves the ability to handle health information regarding potential benefits and risk of flare, but few studies have evaluated health literacy in the context of vaccination. We aimed to evaluate the health literacy and COVID-19 vaccination uptake and acceptance in IgA nephropathy. Methods: Single-center cross-sectional study of 126 consecutive patients with IgA nephropathy. Health literacy was assessed using the HLS-EU-47 questionnaire. Determinants of vaccine acceptance such as contextual influences, individual and group influences, and vaccine-specific issues were adapted from the World Health Organization framework. Results: Forty-eight patients (38.1%) with IgAN nephropathy completed the survey between June and August 2021. The participants’ median age was 40.5 (31.6, 52.8) years with median disease duration of 2.8 (1.3, 4.3) years. The median general health literacy index was 31.74 (29.88, 35.82) with significantly greater difficulty in the competency of appraising health information and in the domain of disease prevention (p<0.001). Forty-five patients (93.8%) received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine between January and August 2021. Among the 3 unvaccinated patients, 2 intended to receive the vaccination while and 1 did not intend to get vaccinated. There was a high level of trust and belief that their government and healthcare providers had their best interests at heart and that the healthcare providers were honest about the vaccine’s risk and benefits, although 31.2% did not understand how the vaccine works and 22.9% believed that there were other ways to prevent infection. Most thought there was adequate safety information, were confident in the system for tracking adverse events and had no issues with access to the vaccine. Conclusion: Participants with IgA nephropathy had high health literacy scores and low vaccine hesitancy. The determinants for vaccine acceptance can guide efforts to optimize vaccination coverage.

Health literacy and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance worldwide: A systematic review

“…The study showed that younger participants <50 years old and those who spoke English at home had significantly higher general HL with 85.4% of participants finding it very easy to find information on vaccinations and understand the need for vaccinations. 49 Research in Turkey revealed that the HL scale total score mean was 54.92 ± 23.64 and from them 56.4% received the COVID-19 vaccine. The total mean scores from the HL scale were found to be significantly higher among civil servants ( p < 0.05).…”

Influenza vaccine awareness and acceptance in kidney disease during the corononavirus disease 2019 pandemic

“…Patients at the Glomerulonephritis Clinic were offered the self‐administered survey, 5 while patients with glomerulonephritis due to IgA nephropathy were invited to participate in an interviewer‐administered telephone questionnaire. 6 Awareness of the influenza vaccine and determinants of vaccine acceptance were adapted from the World Health Organization framework. 7 Ninety patients with glomerulonephritis participated in the survey (response rate 60%).…”