Long-term effect of the influenza A/H1N1 pandemic: attitudes and preventive behaviours one year after the pandemic.

Garcia-Continente, Xavier; Serral, Gemma; López, María José; Pérez, Anna; Nebot, Manel

This study aimed to describe changes in attitudes and behaviours regarding influenza A infection 1 year after the end of the pandemic. A cross-sectional study was performed based on two population-based telephone surveys including 1027 (February, 2010) and 1000 (February, 2011) participants in Spain. The percentages of the respondents who reported that they had adopted preventive measures to avoid Influenza infection declined 1 year after the pandemic. Influenza-related consultations decreased, whereas confidence in vaccination increased. Despite the decrease observed in adopting preventive measures, some behaviours were still being adopted long time after the pandemic in general population.