Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Background/Aims The safety and effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccine in people with immune mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) is not known, which may contribute to suboptimal uptake. We investigated UK wide pneumococcal vaccine uptake in adults with IMIDs, the association between pneumococcal vaccination and disease flares, and the effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccine in preventing pneumonia in this at-risk population. Methods Adults with incident rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) prior to 31st August 2018 in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Gold were included. The study was approved by CPRD research data governance (Reference 21₀00614). We calculated the proportion of patients vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia. To investigate the association between vaccination and IMID flare, we employed a self-controlled case series analysis, adjusted for season. The study period was up-to six-month before and six-month after the date of pneumococcal vaccination. This period was partitioned into induction (14 days pre-vaccination) and exposed periods (up-to 90 days post vaccination) with the remaining time considered unexposed. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% CI were calculated. We conducted a multivariable nested case-control study to assess vaccine effectiveness. Cases were patients hospitalised with pneumonia and were matched to up to ten controls for age and sex. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI. Results We included 32, 277 IMID patients: 14, 151 with RA, 13, 631 with IBD, 3, 804 with SpA and 691 with SLE. Overall uptake of pneumococcal vaccination was 50% (95% CI 49. 4% -50. 5%). Vaccination uptake was significantly lower in the under 45-year-olds, in patients with IBD and in those without additional indication for vaccination at 29. 7%, 38. 4%, 42. 7% respectively. In the safety study, data for 1001, 854, 424 vaccinated patients with primary care consultations for joint pain, AIRD flare, and IBD flare respectively were included. Vaccination against pneumococcal pneumonia was not associated with AIRD flare (IRR (95% CI) 1. 07 (0. 93-1. 22) ), primary care consultations for joint pain (IRR (95% CI) 0. 95 (0. 83-1. 10) ), and IBD flare (IRR (95% CI) 0. 82 (0. 64-1. 06) ) in the 90-days post vaccination. The vaccine effectiveness study included 25, 707 patients, either with (n = 2, 771) or without (n = 22, 936) a hospitalisation record for pneumonia after IMID diagnosis. Patients hospitalised for pneumonia compared with their matched controls, had higher odds of current smoking, deprivation, corticosteroid prescriptions, additional indication for vaccination, primary care consultations, hospital admissions and prescriptions. In the multivariable adjusted model, pneumococcal vaccination was associated with reduced odds of hospitalisation for pneumonia (OR (95% CI) 0. 88 (0. 78-0. 98). Conclusion The uptake of pneumococcal vaccine is low in IMID patients. Pneumococcal vaccination is not associated with IMID flare and is protective against pneumonia. These findings call for promotion of pneumococcal vaccination in IMID by health professionals. Disclosure G. Nakafero: None. M. J. Grainge: None. C. D. Mallen: Grants/research support; NIHR, MRC, Versus Arthritis and BMS. T. Card: None. J. S. Nguyen Van-Tam: Consultancies; CSL Seqirus and Moderna. Royalties; AstraZeneca and Sanofi Pasteur. A. Abhishek: Consultancies; NGM Bio, Limbic and Inflazome. . Royalties; UpToDate, Springer, Cadilla Pharmaceuticals. . Grants/research support; AstraZeneca and Oxford Immunotech. .
Nakafero et al. (Mon,) studied this question.