Primary care physicians' perspectives on adults with diabetes and the recommended hepatitis B vaccine: A qualitative study.

Douwné L Müller, Heather Stuckey, Eileen S Flores, Li Wang, Thomas Godfrey, William A Calo, Jessica Yingst

PloS one 2024

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People with diabetes are at an increased risk of contracting the hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, hepatitis B (HepB) vaccination rates among adults with diabetes are low. Factors influencing HepB vaccination have not been adequately explored. The study aims to identify and understand the barriers adults with diabetes have in receiving the recommended HepB vaccine from the physicians' perspective. This study used semi-structured interviews to ascertain the perspective of 11 primary care physicians (PCPs) in a large academic medical group about HepB vaccination among their patients with Type 1 and 2 diabetes. Thematic analysis yielded descriptions of barriers and strategies that could potentially impact HepB vaccination among adults with diabetes. Physician responses related to four themes: (1) Conflicting perceptions about HBV risk and the CDC recommendation for adults with diabetes; (2) PCPs don't perceive HepB vaccination as important as other adult vaccines and prioritize vaccination based on risk exposure; (3) PCPs' perceived barriers to HepB vaccination among adults with diabetes; and (4) Physician recommended strategies to increase HepB vaccination among adults with diabetes. Our findings indicate that physicians are generally aware of the existence of the CDC guidelines, but not all physicians recommend the HepB vaccine to adults with diabetes. This is because of a wide variation in treatment concerning glucose monitoring or insulin injection due to varying opinions about actual risk. We also identified barriers adults with diabetes have in receiving the HepB vaccine and strategies to increase HepB vaccination. Copyright: © 2024 Müller et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation

Douwné L Müller, Heather Stuckey, Eileen S Flores, Li Wang, Thomas Godfrey, William A Calo, Jessica Yingst. Primary care physicians' perspectives on adults with diabetes and the recommended hepatitis B vaccine: A qualitative study. PloS one. 2024;19(10):e0312168