EVALUATION OF FAILURE TO FOLLOW VACCINATION RECOMMENDATIONS AS A MARKER FOR FAILURE TO FOLLOW OTHER HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS

Objective, To determine whether families who fail to vaccinate their c hildren also fail to follow other health recommendations. Setting. US civilian noninstitutionalized population. Design. National survey with a stratified cluster design. Participants. Adult respondents for chil dren 19 to 35 months of age surveyed in the 1991 National Health Inter view Survey with documented vaccination history. Measurements. Compari son of responses to 23 questions related to health behaviors between r espondents of up-to date (UTD), i.e. having received 4 doses of diphth eria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine, 3 doses of polio vacci ne and one measles vaccine, and non-UTD children. Results. Of the 781 studied children, non-UTD (n = 357) and UTD (n = 424) children, or the ir respondents, did not differ in 18 of the 23 studied health behavior s. However, although non-UTD and UTD children were equally likely to h ave car seats, non-UTD children were less likely to use them always (8 4.3% us, 92.9%, P = 0.002), National Health Interview Survey responden ts of nonUTD children were more likely than their counterparts never t o read food labels for ingredients (28.9% vs, 20.5%, P = 0.04) or for fat/cholesterol content (33.6% vs, 22.3%, P = 0.02) and never to buy l ow salt foods (37.5% vs. 21.5%, P = 0.001), Multivariate analyses show ed that parental education level, not a child's vaccination status, wa s associated with compliance with the studied health behaviors, Conclu sion. Failure to vaccinate children on time is not consistently relate d to the likelihood of family member's following of other health recom mendations, However, these data suggest that although mediated via par ental educational levels, a child's immunization status helps to defin e families at risk for poor nutrition-related behaviors and those who are in need of counseling on seat belt use.