VACCINATION PRACTICES of ADULT FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER PATIENTS in TURKEY

ABSTRACT

Background: Vaccines are the safest and most effective method to prevent invasive and life-threatening infections. Vaccines against infuenza, pneumococcal disease, herpes zoster, and human papillomavirus are the main recommended vaccines for adults. In addition, rheumatology patients are advised to receive adult vaccinations according to the vaccines available in their country and local guidelines. In Turkey, both infuenza and pneumococcal disease vaccines are commercially available. In addition, these vaccines are strongly recommended for rheumatology patients in local guidelines. Although familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is one of the most common rheu-matological diseases in Turkey, it is often neglected in vaccination recommendations. Objectives: In this study, we surveyed the vaccination practice against infuenza or pneumococcal diseases of adult FMF patients in our cohort. In addition, we evaluated the factors related to favorable vaccination practice. Methods: We included 360 FMF patients over 18 years of age. All patients ful-flled the Tel-Hashomer criteria for FMF. We asked them if they had ever been vaccinated against pneumococcal or infuenza, and how often they received them. In addition, we dichotomised patients in terms of vaccinated against at least one of infuenza or pneumococcal diseases. We then compared the groups for demographic (age gender and comorbidities) and disease related characteristics (disease duration, disease activity calculated by ISSF and colchicine dose). We used qi-square test to compare categorial variables and Mann-Whitney U test to compare continuous variables. P<0.05 was accepted as signifcant. Results: Of 360 FMF patients, 238 (66.1%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 34.5±10.7 years. Disease duration of the patients was 9.38±0.7 years. In addition, the mean ISSF score of the patients was 1.83±1.5. The mean dose of colchicine received by the patient was 1.23 ± 0.47 mg. Only 54 (15.0%) of the patients had at least one comorbidity. In our cohort, 22 (6.1%) patients were vaccinated against infuenza or pneumococcal disease. Only 18 (5.0%) of the patients have been vaccinated against infuenza at least once so far. Half of these patients (9/18) were vaccinated against infuenza each year. In addition, 8/360 (2.2%) patients were fully vaccinated against pneumococcal diseases. Here, six of them received the pneumococcal vaccine after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. There was no statistically signifcant difference between the groups in terms of demographic and disease related characteristics. Conclusion: We found that vaccination practice of FMF patients in our cohort was unsatisfactory. Few patients follow adult vaccination recommendations. In addition, clinicians should be concerned about the importance of vaccination and guide their patients to get the adult vaccines available in their country.