Journal article
[DUPLICATE] Geographic Clusters in Underimmunization and Vaccine Refusal.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Parental refusal and delay of childhood
vaccines has increased in recent years and is believed to cluster
in some communities. Such clusters could pose public health risks
and barriers to achieving immunization quality benchmarks. Our aims
were to (1) describe geographic clusters of underimmunization and
vaccine refusal- (2) compare clusters of underimmunization with
different vaccines- and (3) evaluate whether vaccine refusal
clusters may pose barriers to achieving high immunization rates.
METHODS: We analyzed electronic health records among children born
between 2000 and 2011 with membership in Kaiser Permanente Northern
California. The study population included 154 424 children in 13
counties with continuous membership from birth to 36 months of age.
We used spatial scan statistics to identify clusters of
underimmunization (having missed 1 or more vaccines by 36 months of
age) and vaccine refusal (based on International Classification of
Diseases- Ninth Revision- Cl
Publication year
2015
Journal
Pediatrics
Volume
2
Type
Journal article