ArticleRMD open2021
Are patients with rheumatic diseases on immunosuppressive therapies protected against preventable infections? A cross-sectional cohort study.
Article in RMD open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cost-effectiveness of herpes zoster vaccination in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Factors influencing vaccination decisions in patients with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease: a qualitative approach.BMC rheumatology · 2026Article
- Therapeutic Education for Safer Rheumatologic Care: A Scoping Review to Map Evidence on Infection Prevention.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Review
- Detection of substantial numbers of latent tuberculosis and positive hepatitis B serology results in rheumatology patients preparing to receive intensified immunosuppressive therapy in a low-prevalence country: why screening still matters.Clinical rheumatology · 2025Article
- Interventions to Improve COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy.Rheumatic diseases clinics of North America · 2025Review
- Article
- Facilitators and barriers for vaccination in patients with inflammatory rheumatic musculoskeletal diseases: a prospective cohort study.RMD open · 2023Article
- Influenza, Pneumococcal and Herpes Zoster Vaccination Rates in Patients with Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Facilitators and barriers of vaccine uptake in patients with autoimune inflammatory rheumatic disease: a scoping review.RMD open · 2022Article
- [Development of quality standards for patients with rheumatoid arthritis for use in Germany].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2022Article
- Practices among General Practitioners in Rheumatoid Arthritis (GEPRA-I): results of a region-wide online survey.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- SARS-CoV-2 vaccination willingness and predictors in patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRD) and without CIRD.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the prevalence of infections, prevalence of hospitalisation due to infections, the vaccination status and perceived screening of infections prior to the start of biologic disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) of a patient cohort with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRD).
methodsConsecutive CIRD patients reporting to our specialised centre were prospectively included (n=975) in this cross-sectional study. Data on comorbidities including infections, treatment, vaccination status, screening for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and hepatitis B (HepB) were collected. Antibodies against measles and HepB were measured by ELISA. The vaccination status was assessed by a predefined vaccination score (0-26) categorising patients into four immunisation states: low (0-6), moderate (7-13), good (14-20), high (21-26).
resultsAll patients on bDMARDs (n=499) were screened for LTBI, and 469 for HepB (94%). All LTBI patients (n=16) received isoniazid (3.2%) and 16 chronic HepB patients received lamivudine (3.4%). Protective measles specific IgG-antibodies were found in 901 patients (92.4%). Although 629 patients were educated about vaccination strategies (64.5%), only 540 showed a vaccination card (55.4%). Only 49% of patients had undergone pneumococcal vaccination and less than 30% were protected against HepB and influenza, while 7.6% have not protective antibody titres against measles. No patient met the German national vaccination recommendations requiring a complete documentation of vaccines. The mean vaccination score was 13.3±4.2 with 5.7% of patients having a low, 43.9% a moderate, 47.0% a good and 3.3% a high score.
conclusionsThe majority of CIRD patients are n0t sufficiently vaccinated against pneumococci, HepB, influenza and measles. Although CIRD patients and general practitioners regularly receive professional information about the need of vaccination, vaccination rates were low to moderate. Interdisciplinary quality projects should be planned to change that inacceptable result.
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