[Practical problems by implementation of vaccination recommendations]. / Praktische Probleme bei der Umsetzung von Impfempfehlungen.

Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases are known to have an increased risk of infections due to the rheumatic disease itself and due to therapy with immunosuppressive agents. The most important procedure to prevent infections is vaccinations, which are usually well-tolerated. The German National Commission for Immunization ( STIKO) has published recommendations for patients with an immunodeficiency. The German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh) has generally implemented these recommendations for patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases. The immunization status of patients with rheumatic diseases is of increasing importance in routine patient care because some of the recently approved drugs may influence the strength of the immune response to vaccination. However, there is almost no information about the current immunization status and the willingness of patients with rheumatic diseases to undergo vaccination procedures in Germany. There are also no epidemiologic data on the implementation of recommendations for immunization at the level of general practitioners. Here we present the results of a prospective study on the efficacy of standardized recommendations for immunization given to different patient groups with rheumatic diseases treated in a hospital specialized in rheumatology.

Identifying patients with axial spondyloarthritis in primary care: how useful are items indicative of inflammatory back pain?

BACKGROUND: The value of clinical items defining inflammatory back pain to identify patients with axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) in primary care is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To identify predictive clinical parameters for a diagnosis of axial SpA in patients with chronic back pain presenting in primary care. METHODS: Consecutive patients aged < 45 years (n=950) with back pain for > 2 months who presented to orthopaedic surgeons (n=143) were randomised based on four key questions for referral to rheumatologists (n=36) for diagnosis. RESULTS: The rheumatologists saw 322 representative patients (mean age 36 years, 50% female, median duration of back pain 30 months). 113 patients (35%) were diagnosed as axial SpA (62% HLA B27+), 47 (15%) as ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and 66 (21%) as axial non-radiographic SpA (nrSpA). Age at onset ≤ 35 years, improvement by exercise, improvement with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, waking up in the second half of the night and alternating buttock pain were identified as most relevant for diagnosing axial SpA by multiple regression analysis. Differences between AS and nrSpA were detected. No single item was predictive, but ≥ 3 items proved useful for good sensitivity and specificity by receiver operating characteristic modelling. CONCLUSION: This study shows that a preselection in primary care of patients with back pain based on a combination of clinical items is useful to facilitate the diagnosis of axial SpA.