Management of vaccination in rheumatic disease

Abstract

Autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRD) such as rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis, including psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis are associated with an increased risk of infection due to a combination of the immunosuppressive effect of the AIIRD, comorbidities, and use of corticosteroids and the immunosuppressive effect of conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), targeted synthetic (ts-) DMARDs, and biologic (b-) DMARDs. Many infections are preventable with vaccination. However, as the protective immune responses induced by vaccination may be impaired by immunosuppression, vaccination should be considered before the commencement of immunosuppression. Another opportune time to review vaccination status is when planning overseas travel, as destination-specific vaccines are often required. Although limited published data regarding vaccine efficacy in patients with AIIRD make prescriptive guidelines difficult, a vaccination history should be part of the initial workup in all patients with AIIRD. Unfortunately, this is often not done by rheumatologists. This paper encourages those caring for patients with AIIRD to regularly review vaccination status.

Keywords: Biologics; DMARDs; Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; Immunosuppression; Infection; Rheumatic disease; Travel; Vaccination.