TY - JOUR T1 - Predictors of seasonal influenza vaccination among healthcare workers in hospitals: a descriptive meta-analysis JF - Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO - Occup Environ Med SP - 230 LP - 235 DO - 10.1136/oemed-2011-100134 VL - 69 IS - 4 AU - Josien Riphagen-Dalhuisen AU - Giedre Gefenaite AU - Eelko Hak Y1 - 2012/04/01 UR - http://oem.bmj.com/content/69/4/230.abstract N2 - Objective Vaccinating healthcare workers (HCWs) against influenza is one of the most important methods of decreasing influenza transmission among at-risk patients in healthcare facilities. However, despite recommendations, the rate of uptake of influenza vaccine among HCWs remains low. The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the most important predictors of seasonal influenza vaccine acceptance among HCWs in hospitals.Method A literature search of PubMed and Embase resulted in 4586 hits. Screening of the titles, abstracts and full text identified 13 studies eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Based on the crude data, pooled risk ratios (Mantel-Haenszel risk ratios, mhRR) and their 95% CIs were calculated using Mantel-Haenszel analysis to estimate the associations of predictors with influenza vaccination status.Results and conclusion Knowing that the vaccine is effective (mhRR 2.22; 95% CI 1.93 to 2.54), being willing to prevent influenza transmission (mhRR 2.31; 95% CI 1.97 to 2.70), believing that influenza is highly contagious (RR 2.25; 95% CI 1.66 to 3.05), believing that influenza prevention is important (mhRR 3.63; 95% CI 2.87 to 4.59) and having a family that is usually vaccinated (RR 2.32; 95% CI 1.64 to 3.28) were statistically significantly associated with a twofold higher vaccine uptake. We therefore recommend targeting these predictors when developing new influenza vaccination implementation strategies for hospital HCWs. ER -