Changes of immunosuppressive medication because of COVID-19 by patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: anxiety was not a major driver.

OBJECTIVES: To study treatment decisions of patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases (CIRD) at the beginning of the SARS- CoV-2 pandemic in relation to disease characteristics with focus on anxiety. METHODS: A total of 970 CIRD patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), psoriasis arthritis (PsA) and connective tissue diseases (CTD), selected from our records who had presented to our hospital at least twice during last year, were contacted by telephone to be asked about medication changes, health status and therapy satisfaction. Standardised tools were used to assess disease activity, anxiety and depression, the latter by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score (HADS) with a score ≥8 denoting definite anxiety and/or depression. The cut-off for RADAI was set at ≥3.2 and for BASDAI ≥4. Compliance with prevention rules and vaccination status were assessed. RESULTS: Complete interviews of 557 patients (57.4%) made between April and July 2020 were available for analysis. The median age was 55 (47-63), disease duration 9.0 (4.5-17.0) years, 61.9% females. A recent change in medication was reported by 197 patients (35.4%), 51.2% of which admitted that this decision was mainly made due to the pandemic with more changes occurring with bDMARDs (21.8%) than cDMARDs (6.6%) and corticosteroids (5.4%). There was no major difference between patients who changed because of the pandemic or self-reported inactive disease versus patients who did not change therapy regarding disease activity, depression and anxiety (41%, 17.2%, 31.3% vs. 47.5%, 22.5%, 35.0% vs. 48.9%, 27.7%, 34.1%). More than 90% of patients reported that they rigorously followed Corona prevention rules. The majority of patients were vaccinated against influenza (55.3%) and pneumococci (61.3%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety, depression and disease activity did not play an important role in decisions favouring change of therapy, even though many patients changed medication due to the pandemic. Patients probably protected themselves by strictly adhering to hygiene recommendations. Vaccination rates against influenza and pneumococci were better than previously reported, but still too low.

Are patients with rheumatic diseases on immunosuppressive therapies protected against preventable infections? A cross-sectional cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To 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). METHODS: Consecutive 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). RESULTS: All 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. CONCLUSIONS: The 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.