Poor immune response to inactivated COVID-19 vaccine in patients with hypertension

Lei Yang; TingTing Zeng; Yang Li; Qiao Guo; DePeng Jiang

doi:10.3389/fmed.2024.1329607

Poor immune response to inactivated COVID-19 vaccine in patients with hypertension

Front Med (Lausanne). 2024 May 2:11:1329607. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1329607. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Lei Yang^#¹, TingTing Zeng^#², Yang Li¹, Qiao Guo³, DePeng Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
² Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
³ Department of General and Practice, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: The safety and efficacy of vaccination in people with hypertension (HTN) is important. There are currently a few data on the immunogenicity and safety of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations in hypertension patients.

Methods: After receiving a two-dose immunization, 94 hypertension adult patients and 74 healthy controls (HCs) in this study, the evaluation included looking at antibodies (Abs) against receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG, SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies (NAbs), RBD-specific B cells, and memory B cells (MBCs).

Results: There was no discernible difference in the overall adverse events (AEs) over the course of 7 or 30 days between HTN patients and HCs. HTN patients had lower frequencies of RBD-specific memory B cells and the seropositivity rates and titers of Abs compared with HCs (all, p < 0.05). HTN patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions (CCVD) have lower titers of CoV-2 NAb than in HCs. The titers of both Abs in HTN declined gradually over time.

Conclusion: Inactivated COVID-19 vaccinations were safe in hypertension patients; however humoral immune was limited, especially merged CCVD and declined gradually over time.

Keywords: COVID-19; hypertension; immunogenicity; inactivated vaccine; safety.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81772198) and the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, China (cstc2020jcyj-msxmX0389) and supported by the Kuanren Talents Program of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.