Early experience of COVID-19 vaccination in adults with systemic rheumatic diseases: Results from the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance Vaccine Survey

Sebastian Eduardo Sattui, Jean W. Liew, Kevin Kennedy, Emily Sirotich, Michael Putman, Tarin T. Moni, Akpabio Akpabio, Deshiré Alpízar-Rodríguez, Francis Berenbaum, Inita Bulina, Richard Conway, Aman Dev Singh, Eimear Duff, Karen L. Durrant, Tamer A. Gheita, Catherine L. Hill, Richard A. Howard, Bimba F. Hoyer, Evelyn Hsieh, Lina El KibbiAdam Kilian, Alfred Hyoungju Kim, David F.L. Liew, Chieh Lo, Bruce Miller, Serena Mingolla, Michal Nudel, Candace A. Palmerlee, Jasvinder A. Singh, Namrata Singh, Manuel Francisco Ugarte-Gil, John Wallace, Kristen J. Young, Suleman Bhana, Wendy Costello, Rebecca Grainger, Pedro M. MacHado, Philip C. Robinson, Paul Sufka, Zachary S. Wallace, Jinoos Yazdany, Carly Harrison, Maggie Larché, Mitchell Levine, Gary Foster, Lehana Thabane, Lisa G. Rider, Jonathan S. Hausmann, Julia F. Simard, Jeffrey A. Sparks

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

132 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background We describe the early experiences of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods From 2 April to 30 April 2021, we conducted an online, international survey of adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination. We collected patient-reported data on clinician communication, beliefs and intent about discontinuing disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) around the time of vaccination, and patient-reported adverse events after vaccination. Results We analysed 2860 adults with systemic rheumatic diseases who received COVID-19 vaccination (mean age 55.3 years, 86.7% female, 86.3% white). Types of COVID-19 vaccines were Pfizer-BioNTech (53.2%), Oxford/AstraZeneca (22.6%), Moderna (21.3%), Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (1.7%) and others (1.2%). The most common rheumatic disease was rheumatoid arthritis (42.3%), and 81.2% of respondents were on a DMARD. The majority (81.9%) reported communicating with clinicians about vaccination. Most (66.9%) were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy, although many (44.3%) were concerned about rheumatic disease flares. After vaccination, the most reported patient-reported adverse events were fatigue/somnolence (33.4%), headache (27.7%), muscle/joint pains (22.8%) and fever/chills (19.9%). Rheumatic disease flares that required medication changes occurred in 4.6%. Conclusion Among adults with systemic rheumatic disease who received COVID-19 vaccination, patient-reported adverse events were typical of those reported in the general population. Most patients were willing to temporarily discontinue DMARDs to improve vaccine efficacy. The relatively low frequency of rheumatic disease flare requiring medications was reassuring.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere001814
JournalRMD Open
Volume7
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 7 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • autoimmune diseases
  • vaccination

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