Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Utilization of health care services before and after media attention about fatal side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine : a nation-wide register-based event study

Larsen, Vilde Bergstad ; Grøsland, Mari ; Telle, Kjetil and Magnusson, Karin LU (2021) In BMC Health Services Research 21(1).
Abstract

Background: Survey studies have found that vaccinated persons tend to report more side effects after being given information about side effects rather than benefits. However, the impact of high media attention about vaccine-related side effects on the utilization of health care is unknown. We aimed to assess whether utilization of health care services for newly vaccinated health care workers changed after media attention about fatal side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11th, 2021, and whether changes differed by age, sex, or occupation. Methods: We utilized individual-level data on health care use, vaccination, employment, and demographics available in the Norwegian emergency preparedness register Beredt C19. In all 99,899... (More)

Background: Survey studies have found that vaccinated persons tend to report more side effects after being given information about side effects rather than benefits. However, the impact of high media attention about vaccine-related side effects on the utilization of health care is unknown. We aimed to assess whether utilization of health care services for newly vaccinated health care workers changed after media attention about fatal side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11th, 2021, and whether changes differed by age, sex, or occupation. Methods: We utilized individual-level data on health care use, vaccination, employment, and demographics available in the Norwegian emergency preparedness register Beredt C19. In all 99,899 health care workers in Norway who were vaccinated with AstraZeneca between February 11th and March 11th, we used an event-study design with a matched comparison group to compare the change in primary and inpatient specialist care use from 14 days before to 14 days after the information shock on March 11th, 2021. Results: Primary health care use increased with 8.2 daily consultations per 1000 health care workers (95% CI 7.51 to 8.89) the week following March 11th for those vaccinated with AstraZeneca (n = 99,899), compared with no increase for the unvaccinated comparison group (n = 186,885). Utilization of inpatient care also increased with 0.8 daily hospitalizations per 1000 health care workers (95% CI 0.37 to 1.23) in week two after March 11th. The sharpest increase in daily primary health care use in the first week after March 11th was found for women aged 18–44 (10.6 consultations per 1000, 95% CI 9.52 to 11.68) and for cleaners working in the health care sector (9.8 consultations per 1000, 95% CI 3.41 to 16.19). Conclusions: Health care use was higher after the media reports of a few cases of fatal or severe side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Our results suggest that the reports did not only lead vaccinated individuals to contact primary health care more, but also that physicians referred and treated more cases to specialist care after the new information.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
COVID-19, Drug side effects, Health care seeking behavior, Health communication, Vaccine
in
BMC Health Services Research
volume
21
issue
1
article number
1229
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:34774045
  • scopus:85119038067
ISSN
1472-6963
DOI
10.1186/s12913-021-07233-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
id
276ccdf2-2d62-42e1-bd2b-0d0d7b7e98f4
date added to LUP
2021-12-02 16:56:13
date last changed
2024-03-23 15:14:23
@article{276ccdf2-2d62-42e1-bd2b-0d0d7b7e98f4,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Survey studies have found that vaccinated persons tend to report more side effects after being given information about side effects rather than benefits. However, the impact of high media attention about vaccine-related side effects on the utilization of health care is unknown. We aimed to assess whether utilization of health care services for newly vaccinated health care workers changed after media attention about fatal side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11th, 2021, and whether changes differed by age, sex, or occupation. Methods: We utilized individual-level data on health care use, vaccination, employment, and demographics available in the Norwegian emergency preparedness register Beredt C19. In all 99,899 health care workers in Norway who were vaccinated with AstraZeneca between February 11th and March 11th, we used an event-study design with a matched comparison group to compare the change in primary and inpatient specialist care use from 14 days before to 14 days after the information shock on March 11th, 2021. Results: Primary health care use increased with 8.2 daily consultations per 1000 health care workers (95% CI 7.51 to 8.89) the week following March 11th for those vaccinated with AstraZeneca (n = 99,899), compared with no increase for the unvaccinated comparison group (n = 186,885). Utilization of inpatient care also increased with 0.8 daily hospitalizations per 1000 health care workers (95% CI 0.37 to 1.23) in week two after March 11th. The sharpest increase in daily primary health care use in the first week after March 11th was found for women aged 18–44 (10.6 consultations per 1000, 95% CI 9.52 to 11.68) and for cleaners working in the health care sector (9.8 consultations per 1000, 95% CI 3.41 to 16.19). Conclusions: Health care use was higher after the media reports of a few cases of fatal or severe side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Our results suggest that the reports did not only lead vaccinated individuals to contact primary health care more, but also that physicians referred and treated more cases to specialist care after the new information.</p>}},
  author       = {{Larsen, Vilde Bergstad and Grøsland, Mari and Telle, Kjetil and Magnusson, Karin}},
  issn         = {{1472-6963}},
  keywords     = {{COVID-19; Drug side effects; Health care seeking behavior; Health communication; Vaccine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Health Services Research}},
  title        = {{Utilization of health care services before and after media attention about fatal side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine : a nation-wide register-based event study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-07233-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12913-021-07233-2}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}