Flu Immunization Obtainment in Windsor and Essex County, 2007-2012

The percentage of individuals who ever obtained a flu immunization, as well as statistics on how recently an individual received the vaccine, are presented below. Results were analyzed to determine the impact that age and sex has on uptake, as well as the impact that various social variables have on flu vaccination rates in Windsor and Essex. 

^E Interpret with caution due to high sampling variability.

The percentage of individuals reporting they had ever received the flu vaccine did not change significantly from 2007 to 2009. In 2010 significantly fewer people reported they had ever received the vaccine. The percentage of people reporting they had ever received the vaccine in 2011 and 2012 did not differ from any years.

When rates for vaccinations obtained less than one year ago are examined, results indicate that the percentage of individuals obtaining the flu vaccine less than a year ago did not change from 2007 to 2009. In 2010 however, the percentage of individuals reporting that they received the vaccine less than one year ago was significantly lower than in previous years. In 2011 the percentage of those obtaining the vaccine less than a year ago reached similar levels to 2007-2009. While rates appear to have dropped again in 2012, they are not low enough to be significantly different from 2007-2009 and 2011. 

^E Interpret with caution due to high sampling variability.
NR = Not reportable due to high sampling variability.
Note. Less than 1 year = obtained flu Immunization less than a year ago. 1 year – less 2 years = obtained flu Immunization at least 1 year ago to less than 2 years ago. 2 years or more = obtained flu Immunization 2 years ago or more.
Note. Values in the yearly categories will not sum to the exact value in the ever category.

When flu vaccine uptake is examined by sex alone, there were significantly more women who obtained their flu shot within the last year than men (41.9% of women versus 31.4% for men). When vaccine uptake is examined by age alone, the percentage of people who obtained the vaccine within the last year increases with age, with those aged 45 to 64 being more likely to receive the vaccine in the last year than those in the younger age groups, and with those aged 65 and older being more likely than those aged 45 to 64. Finally, when results are examined by age and sex, it is found that men aged 45 to 64 are significantly less likely than women of the same age to have received the flu vaccine within the last year.

^E Interpret with caution due to high sampling variability.
Note. Values in the yearly categories will not sum to the exact value in the ever category.

When the data on vaccination rates and income is examined two differences in vaccination rates can be noted. For vaccines that were obtained less than one year ago, there is a significant difference in uptake between those in quintile 2 and those in quintile 4. For vaccines that were obtained over two years ago there is a difference in uptake between those in quintile 1 and quintile 4. It appears that those in income quintile 4 who have ever obtained a flu vaccine are less likely to have received the vaccine less than a year ago and more likely to have obtained it over two years. 

^E Interpret with caution due to high sampling variability.
Note. Values in the yearly categories will not sum to the exact value in the ever category. 

When data on education level and flu vaccination rates are examined a difference in rates for those who obtained the vaccine 1 year to less than 2 years ago is found, with rates being higher for those who report having some post-secondary education than those who reported that they were a secondary school graduate or a post-secondary graduate. 

^E Interpret with caution due to high sampling variability.
Note. Values in the yearly categories will not sum to the exact value in the ever category. 

There are no differences in flu vaccine uptake based on minority status. 

^E Interpret with caution due to high sampling variability.
Note. Values in the yearly categories will not sum to the exact value in the ever category. 

There are no differences in flu vaccine uptake based on immigration status.

Data Notes

1. Data Source: Canadian Community Health Survey, [2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012], Share File, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
2. The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) collects data through participant self-report. Data collected through self-report can be biased due to inaccurate memory or because of social desirability. Social desirability happens when individuals answer questions in a manner that they think will be viewed favourably, and is more likely to occur when individuals are answering sensitive questions.
3. Not Stated and Don’t Know responses were excluded from analysis.
4. 95% CI = 95% confidence interval. The 95% confidence interval provides a range within which we are 95% confident that the true population proportion (%) falls. If a stated result percentage is 18% with a 95% CI of 15.0-21.0%, we can be 95% confident that the true percentage lies within the range of 15.0% to 21.0%. The wider the confidence interval, the more variability there is, and the less precise the estimate.
5. Significant differences were determined based on non-overlapping confidence intervals.
6. Understanding income quintiles used in this report: The Canadian Community Health Survey contains a variable that groups Windsor-Essex survey respondents into one of 10 income deciles. Each decile contains 10% of the sample population. So that the lowest or first decile contains the 10% of the population that has the lowest household income, and the highest or 10^th decile contains the 10% of the sample population that has the highest household income. The calculation takes into account reported household income, low-income cut-off values, household size, and community size. For the purposes of this report, deciles were used to create quintiles for ease of analysis and interpretation (quintiles are fifths, and so each quintile contains 20% of the sample population). The lowest two deciles were combined to make the lowest quintile, the third and fourth deciles were combined to create the second lowest quintile, and so forth, with the two highest income deciles being combined to make the highest income quintile.
7. A white ethnic background was defined as an individual who reported that their ethnicity was white. All other ethnicities were coded as minority.
8. Immigrant was defined as someone who had ever immigrated to Canada.
9. The geographical area of Windsor-Essex County represents the population of the entire county of Essex and includes all municipalities within the county.
10. Age standardized statistics available upon request.