Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1474677
This article is part of the Research Topic Vaccine Education and Promotion View all 29 articles

Sociodemographic Disparities in Influenza Vaccination Among Older Adults in United States

Provisionally accepted
Huan Tao Huan Tao 1*Jin Chen Jin Chen 1Xue Zhang Xue Zhang 2Tao Wang Tao Wang 1Nenggang Jiang Nenggang Jiang 1Yongqian Jia Yongqian Jia 1
  • 1 West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
  • 2 Peking Union Medical College Hospital (CAMS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Influenza vaccination uptake among United States adults aged 65 years or older remains suboptimal and stagnant. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of influenza vaccination and examine sociodemographic disparities within a nationally representative sample. Method: This study is a cross-sectional study. We used the data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System spanning the years 2011 to 2022. Logistic regression models were used to assess potential associations between influenza vaccination uptake and sociodemographic characteristics. Concentration indexes were also calculated to measure the socioeconomic inequalities on influenza vaccination uptake.The study included 1,391,440 adults aged 65 years and older, with 62.87% reporting having received an influenza vaccination. The weighted prevalence of influenza vaccination uptake showed a slight increase, ranging from 59.05% in 2011-2013 to 67.49% in 2020-2022. Higher vaccination rates were observed among non-Hispanic Whites (63.16%; odds ratio [OR] 1.38, [95% CI 1.33-1.42]), individuals with education above high school (63.89%; OR 1.16, [95% CI 1.12-1.19]), and those with an income above $50,000 (65.86%; OR 1.47,). Compared to non-Hispanic Black people with an income below $25,000 and education less than high school, the ORs were significantly higher among non-Hispanic whites (2.12, [95% CI 1.97-2.28]), non-Hispanic Black people (1.30, [95% CI 1.18-1.44]), and Hispanics (1.40, [95% CI 1.24-1.59]) earning above $50,000 and education above high school. Those who received an influenza vaccination tended to be concentrated in the high-income group and high-education group. Conclusion: There are substantial racial and socioeconomic disparities in influenza vaccination uptake among individuals aged 65 years or older. Health policy maybe urgently needed to reduce these avoidable inequalities.

    Keywords: influenza vaccine, racial groups, socioeconomic disparities, older adults, Public Health

    Received: 02 Aug 2024; Accepted: 27 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Tao, Chen, Zhang, Wang, Jiang and Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Huan Tao, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.