Vaccination and screening for chronic diseases in persons with disabilities

Objective The objective of this study is to verify vaccine coverage and chronic diseases screening in a population of people with disabilities. Material/patients and methods Prospective study conducted at the service including 40 disabled people hospitalized in November 2016. For each patient was determined the age, gender, socio-familial environment, associated diseases and regularity of medical follow-up. For children, vaccination status and history of infectious diseases have been verified. For adults, screening for chronic diseases: cardiovascular disease, cancer (lung, colon, breast, cervix) and sexually transmitted diseases have been searched. Results The 20 children had an average age of 10 years, 7 were integrated into a specialized center, all lived with their parents. A total of 11 children had epilepsy, 2 of which were poorly balanced. The vaccination status was complete for 15 children, incomplete for 1 child with poorly controlled epilepsy and unspecified for 4 children. The 20 adults (13 males and 7 females) had an average age of 37 years, 10 subjects lived with their parents. Screening was carried out for hypertension in 15 cases (diagnosis of 3 subjects), diabetes in all cases (diagnosis of 1 case), prostate cancer in 1 case in men and breast cancer in 2 cases in women, cervix in 1 case. Discussion/conclusion General health care for people with disabilities is inadequate: care is focused on deficiencies. In children, the associated disorders (unbalanced epilepsy) cause some vaccines to be delayed. Cancer screening is highly inadequate in adults and will need to be analyzed for barriers. The health of children and adults with disabilities should be preserved. Complete immunization and chronic disease screening should be improved in this population. It is necessary to ensure coordination between general practitioner and physical physician for better overall health of disabled people.