Abstract Background Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at increased risk of herpes zoster (HZ), a risk that rises further with immunomodulatory therapy. The recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV, Shingrix®) is recommended in this setting, but prospective realworld data remain limited. We assessed the safety, tolerability, and clinical impact of RZV in an IBD cohort. Methods We conducted a prospective observational study at a tertiary IBD centre. Adults ≥18 years with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) were offered astandard twodose RZV schedule (month 0–2). Adverse events (AEs) were recorded by structured telephone interview within 7 days after each dose. Disease activity was measured immediately before vaccination and ≥8 weeks after dose 2 using the HarveyBradshaw Index (HBI) for CD and the partial Mayo score for UC. Herpes zoster (HZ) reactivations were monitored threemonthly for a median of 9 months. Results Forty of 92 eligible patients completed the vaccine course (adherence 43.5%; 28 CD, 12 UC; median age 42 years). Thirty participants (75%) were receiving advanced immunomodulatory therapy. Injectionsite reactions occurred in 35.0% after dose 1 and 37.5% after dose 2; systemic symptoms in 17.5% and 12.5%,respectively. Fever was reported by 30.0% and 32.5%; no serious AEs occurred. Seven HZ cases were documented (17.5%; 95% CI 8.7–32.0); three had prior HZ, yielding a “net” incidence of 10.0%. No flare was attributable to vaccination. Conclusion In this reallife prospective cohort, RZV was well tolerated and did not cause IBD flares. Breakthrough HZ occurred in a minority of patients, about half with previous HZ. These data support routine RZV administration in IBD—ideally before, but also during, immunomodulatory therapy—while highlighting the need for larger multicentre studies to define longterm protection and predictorsof vaccine failure. Conflict of interest: Prof. Ribaldone, Davide Giuseppe: No conflict of intereset Vernero, Marta: Stella, Andrea:
Ribaldone et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: