Pertussis knowledge, attitude and practices among European health care professionals in charge of adult vaccination

Figures & data

Figure 1 Perception of severity of pertussis compared with other vaccine-preventable diseases. Seriousness of the vaccine-preventable disease (x-axis) vs. the perceived need to vaccinate (y-axis). Top 2 box equals - summation of scores of 8, 9, and 10 on a ten point scale.

Figure 2 The percentage of HCPs who have never prescribed or recommended a pertussis-containing vaccine to adults aged 18 years or over. GP, General Practitioner; OHD, Occupational Health Doctor; PMD, Preventative Medicine Doctor.

Table 1 Demographics of the respondents

Country	Finland N (n%)	Germany N (n%)	Poland N (n%)	Spain N (n%)
Specialty:
GP	51	156	101	95
Occupational Health Doctor	54	-	-	30
Preventative Medicine Doctor	-	-	-	30
Total	105	156	101	155
Mean number of years in practice SE 95%	14 0.67	15 0.44	12 0.66	16 0.51
Mean number of patients treated per month SE 95%	282 14.2	656 26.2	504 27.6	611 31.4
Mean number of adult patients* seen per month SE 95%	244 11.7	531 22.7	388 23.5	503 27.4
Mean number of adult patients personally vaccinated or recommended vaccination per month SE 95%	20 (8%§) 1.6	78 (15%§) 4.7	26 (7%§) 2.6	52 (10%§) 7.2

* Adults aged 18 years or over;

§ Proportion of adults seen per month who were vaccinated. Figures show Means and Standard Errors at the 95% level.

Table 2 Most important symptoms to diagnose pertussis in adults (cited by over 12% of HCP s participating in the survey)

	Total % (n = 517)	Finland % (n = 105)	Germany % (n = 156)	Poland % (n = 101)	Spain % (n = 155)
Cough (any type)	91	86	88	94	94
Persistent/troublesome/treatment resistant cough	50	57	59	46	39
Frequency/severity of cough	33	38	40	46	13
Dry/irrative cough	16	12	26	16	8
Cough with a characteristic sound	13	10	17	19	7
Fever	26	12	17	25	45
Breathing difficulties	17	12	12	33	16
Generally unwell	15	5	17	15	21
Results of examination	13	13	17	18	6