Herpes Zoster Vaccination Rates Are Extremely Low in IBD Patients

Vaccination rates for herpes zoster (HZ) were extremely low in a nationwide cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who were eligible for vaccination, according to the results of a recent study.

Because patients with IBD are at an increased risk for HZ, researchers sought to determine the frequency of HZ vaccination and factors associated with these rates among this patient population.

IF YOU LIKE THIS, READ MORE...

Atypical Painless Presentation of Herpes Zoster

Live Zoster Vaccine Is Safe for Some RA Patients

They conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 18,825 IBD patients eligible for vaccination from the nationwide Veterans Affairs Healthcare system. Follow-up began on January 1, 2008 and ended at incident HZ, HZ vaccination, death, June 30, 2016, or loss to follow-up.

Overall, of the 18,825 participants, only 3946 (20.96%) were vaccinated at any time during follow-up, with 11.7% of the total population vaccinated during the first 5 years of follow-up. Those patients with ulcerative colitis and those that were Caucasian were more likely to be vaccinated, while those exposed to steroids, thiopurines, or anti-tumor necrosis factor medications and those with older age and higher Charlson comorbidity index were less likely.

“In this large nationwide VA cohort of IBD patients who were eligible to be vaccinated for HZ, only 21% of the patients were vaccinated. Furthermore, the majority of patients were vaccinated years after they became eligible to be vaccinated,” the researchers concluded.

“Concerted efforts should be made to improve [vaccination rates], and HZV should be considered among the quality of care indicators.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Khan N, Trivedi C, Kavani H, et al. Frequency of herpes zoster vaccination among inflammatory bowel disease patients [published online July 5, 2018]. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/ibd/izy232.