A TriNetX global collaborative network retrospective cohort study on the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The objective is to determine the Impact of COVID-19 Vaccination and Medical Utilization in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) patients. Our study retrieved data from the US Collaborative Network in TriNetX between January 1st, 2020, and June 30th, 2023. We investigated the incidence of COVID-19, medical utilization, and mortality in JIA patients. The HR and 95% CI of the outcomes were calculated between propensity score-matched (PSM) 1:1. 652 vaccinated and 652 unvaccinated JIA patients were enrolled. The vaccinated group demonstrated a significantly elevated risk of infection of COVID-19 but also a notably higher overall use of medical services, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.112 and a 95% confidence interval (C.I.) ranging from 1.081 to 4.129. No significant difference in the risk of outcomes comparing the COVID-19 vaccine group and the influenza vaccine group. During the Delta variant, vaccination was associated with a statistically non-significant rise in COVID-19 risk (HR = 1.402, 95% C.I.= 0.599–28.60). In the era of Omicron there was an increased rate of overall medical service use (HR = 2.326, 95% C.I.= 0.884–6.121). JIA patients were found to have higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection when vaccinated against COVID-19 compared to those who didn’t in this database study, keeping in mind confounders inherent to observational data and selection bias that may limit this conclusion, and could also be affected by different COVID-19 variants. Increased medical resource use was found in these patients but there was no significant rise in mortality, warranting further investigation into the vaccine’s impact on protection in JIA patients and immunological responses involved.