Health information technology use and influenza vaccine uptake among US adults. (September 2019) - Kindratt, Tiffany
Highlights: Health information technology (HIT) use contributes to more adults receiving recommended preventive services. Adults who used any HIT use in the last 12 months were more 1.23 times more likely to receive an influenza vaccine than adults who did not report any HIT use. Adults who communicated with their provider by email were 1.51 times more likely to receive an influenza vaccine compared to those who did not. Adults who filled their prescriptions online were 1.56 times more likely to receive an influenza vaccine than adults who did not. Abstract: Objective: This study aims to estimate the association between health information technology (HIT) use and influenza vaccine uptake among US adults. Materials and methods: Data analysis was conducted using 2011–2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) adult data (n = 169, 912). HIT use was defined as having used computers (past 12 months) to seek health information, fill prescriptions, schedule appointments, communicate with health providers via email, and/or use online health chat groups. Crude and multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of influenza vaccine uptake among HIT users versus non-users. Interactions were tested and stratified results were reported. Results: Among US adults, 39.8% received an influenza vaccine in the past 12 months, while 48.6% reported any HIT use. After adjusting for covariates, any HIT users had 1.23 times greater odds (95% CI = 1.19, 1.27) of influenza vaccine uptake relative to non-HIT users. HIT use for looking up health information on the internet (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.15, 1.23), filling prescriptions (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.50, 1.66), scheduling appointments (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.50, 1.66), and communicating with providers via email (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.44, 1.59) were significantly associated with influenza vaccine uptake. Discussion: HIT use is positively associated with influenza vaccine uptake. Each category of HIT use was independently associated with influenza vaccine uptake. To our knowledge, no other studies have evaluated the relationship between HIT use and influenza vaccine uptake. Our results are exploratory and represent an association, not a causal relationship. Longitudinal, confirmatory studies are also needed to verify our cross-sectional findings.