Parental Attitudes Towards Childhood Vaccination of Children Diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease: A Case-Control Study

Background The presence of chronic disease in children is one of the important factors affecting vaccination status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitudes to childhood vaccinations of the parents of children diagnosed with congenital heart disease (CHD) on presentation at the Paediatric Cardiology Polyclinic of Dicle University Medical Faculty Hospital, and the vaccination status of the children through comparisons with the parents of healthy children. Method This case-control study included a case group of parents of children who presented at the Paediatric Cardiology Polyclinic of Dicle University Medical Faculty Hospital between 01.06.2022 and 01.06.2023 and were diagnosed with CHD. The control group was formed of parents of children not diagnosed with CHD. The Parental Attitude to Childhood Vaccination (PACV) scale and a questionnaire to elicit sociodemographic characteristics and the vaccination status of the children were used to collect data. Results Evaluations were made of a total of 731 parents, as 274 in the case group and 457 in the control group. No significant difference was determined between the groups in respect of the rates of application of the vaccinations included in the childhood vaccination schedule of the Health Ministry of the Turkish Republic (p > 0.05 for all variables). The rates of rotavirus and meningococcus vaccinations was determined to be significantly higher in the control group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001). In the comparisons between the case and control groups, vaccine hesitancy was determined at a significantly higher rate in the control group (p = 0.006). The total raw points obtained from the PACV scale, converted points, and general attitude points were found to be statistically significantly higher in the control group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.019, respectively). In the case group, the rate of vaccine hesitancy of the parents of children with cyanotic heart disease was found to be higher (p = 0.038). Conclusion The results of this study showed that the rates of vaccine hesitancy were lower for the parents of children diagnosed with CHD than for the parents of healthy children. However, the presence of cyanotic heart disease emerged as a medical factor that significantly increased vaccine hesitancy. The rates of vaccine hesitancy in both groups were determined to be affected by sociodemographic characteristics, level of knowledge about vaccinations, trust in doctors, and economic factors.