Knowledge of Italian general practitioners on RSV infection and vaccination among elderly

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes morbidity and mortality among elderly and patients with chronic diseases, Recently, RSV vaccine become available, but a low knowledge on RSV disease can led to poor uptake. In particular, general practitioners (GPs) are key factor in the improvement of vaccination adherence. Poor studies investigated the knowledge of GPs on RSV infection and their attitudes towards the RSV vaccination. A cross-sectional study was conducted among GPs from two province (Pescara and Chieti) of Abruzzo region, Southern Italy. An online Anonymous survey was shared with all GPs of the two provinces. The first section of the survey investigated general information on GPs working conditions. The second section investigated the knowledge on RSV infection: it was composed by 7 questions whose answers were based on a likert scale (from 1 - totaly disagree to 5 – totally agree). Based on the correct answers on the 7 items, a score was developed (from 1 – poor knowledge, to 7 best knowledge). The third section was based on the attitudes towards RSV vaccination. 120 GPs accepted to participate (68 females, 56.7%), with a mean age of 48.9±12.9 years. The great part of participants thinks that RSV causes serious illness also among adults (92, 76.7%), that RSV can’t be distinguished by symptoms from other diseases (88, 73.3%) and that it cause hospital admission among elderly (72, 60%). The median score on RSV knowledge was 5 (interquartile range 4-6). No differences in score were observed by years of work (p = 0.145). Age was negatively correlated to score results (rho -0.27, p = 0.002). The great part of participant is aware of the introduction of RSV vaccine (100, 83.3%), but only 60 (50%) would recommend it to their patients.

GPs consider RSV as an important cause of illness among older adults and fragile patients. However, medical education will be important to guide physicians in the recommendation process of vaccination campaign.

Key messages

• GPs consider RSV as an important cause of illness among elderly.

• Medical education will be important to improve physicians knowledge and achieve better vaccination coverages.