Factors Associated with Increased Risk Perception of Pandemic Influenza in Australia

The aim of this study was to assess factors associated with increased risk perception of pandemic influenza in Australia. The sample consisted of 2081 Australian adults aged 16 years and older who completed a short three item pandemic influenza question module which was incorporated into the NSW Health Adult Population Health Survey during the first quarter of 2007. After adjusting for covariates, multivariate analysis indicated that those living in rural regions were significantly more likely to perceive a high risk that a pandemic influenza would occur, while those with poor self-rated health perceived both a high likelihood of pandemic and high concern that self/family would be directly affected were such an event to occur. Those who spoke a language other than English at home and those on low incomes and younger people (16–24 years) were significantly more likely to have changed the way they lived their lives due to the possibility of pandemic influenza, compared to those who spoke only English at home, middle-high income earners, and older age groups, respectively. This data provides an Australian population baseline against which the risk perceptions of demographic subgroups regarding the current, and potential future pandemics, can be compared and monitored. 1. Introduction The pattern of recurrence of pandemics since the mid-eighteenth century indicates that pandemics occur about every 30 years [1]. Prior to 2009, expert consensus was that another pandemic influenza was almost inevitable [2–7], and although the H5N1 avian viruses were the most likely candidate for an influenza outbreak, the unexpected H1N1 swine influenza reached pandemic in June, 2009. With previous influenza pandemics and the current H1N1 influenza pandemic arriving with little to no warning, we are afforded a unique opportunity to prepare for the next pandemic threat, which has the potential to be more severe than the current pandemic. Important for preparation is knowledge about the public’s response to such a threat, and a key component to the public’s response is their perception of risk. Knowing how a risk is perceived is essential for preparing an effective plan for risk communication, and may be predictive of the public’s response. In a study of the NSW population, Barr et al. [8] found that respondents with higher levels of risk perception reported more willingness to comply with public health behaviours in the event of an outbreak of influenza. Similar results were found in Hong Kong [9] and Italy [10], where respondents in both studies with an increased perception of