Cessation of Face Mask Use after COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients with Diabetes: Prevalence and Determinants

Abstract

Studies on the cessation of face mask use after a COVID-19 vaccine in patients with diabetes are not available, despite their greater predisposition to complications. We estimated the prevalence of cessation of face mask use after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in patients with diabetes and identified which factor was most strongly associated with non-use. This was a cross-sectional study in patients with diabetes 18–70 years with at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19 (n = 288). Participants were asked to respond face-to-face to a questionnaire in a primary care center. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multivariate binary logistic regression were used for analyzing the association between vulnerability, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, vaccine expectations (independent variables), and cessation of use (dependent variable), controlling for sociodemographic, smoking, medical, vaccine, and COVID-19 history. The prevalence of cessation of face masks was 25.3% (95% CI 20.2, 30.5). Not feeling vulnerable to hospitalization increased the odds of non-use (adjusted OR = 3.3, 95% CI 1.2, 8.6), while perceiving benefits did the opposite (adjusted OR = 0.4, 95% CI 0.2, 0.9). The prevalence was low, and only two factors were associated with the cessation of face mask use after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Mask-Wearing Behavior Among Individuals Newly Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes: Insights From Community Health Screenings During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

“…During the pandemic, few studies collected data using face-to-face surveys and health checkups targeting high-risk community residents who needed access to essential healthcare services. Third, although there is little existing literature investigating relationships between T2D and mask-wearing behaviors (Franco et al, 2023), they did not investigate mask-wearing behaviors before COVID-19 vaccination in the early stage of the pandemic. As such, the possible associations between mask-wearing behaviors and T2D status during the early pandemic remain vague and largely unknown.…”