AUTHOR=Balažiová Barbora , Kuková Zuzana , Mišíková Daša , Novosedlíková Katarína , Dallos Tomáš 

TITLE=Real-life vaccination coverage in Slovak children with rheumatic diseases

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.956136

DOI=10.3389/fped.2022.956136

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Evidence-based recommendations for vaccination of patients with pediatric rheumatic diseases (PRDs) are available, their implementation in practice is unknown.</p></sec><sec><title>Objectives</title><p>To analyze real-life vaccination coverage in children with PRDs and identify reasons for incomplete vaccination.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Up-to-date information on vaccination status of Slovak children followed at a tertiary pediatric rheumatology center was retrieved from pediatricians over an 18-month period and compared to the standard Slovak Immunization Schedule. Reasons for missed vaccinations were analyzed retrospectively.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Vaccination records of 156 patients (median age 10 years, 2–18) with PRDs (JIA <italic>n</italic> = 108, systemic diseases <italic>n</italic> = 21, autoinflammatory diseases <italic>n</italic> = 16, uveitis <italic>n</italic> = 9, others <italic>n</italic> = 2) were available for analysis. 117 (75.0%) were completely vaccinated, 2 (1.3%) had not received any vaccine due to reasons unrelated to PRD. 37 (23.7%) remaining patients missed altogether 48 mandatory vaccinations. In 58.3% (<italic>n</italic> = 28, in 24 patients) no PRD related reasons for missing vaccinations were identified. Only 20 vaccinations (18 live-attenuated and 2 non-live in 19 patients) were missed due to ongoing immunosuppressive treatment or PRD activity. Patients aged 11–14 years were more likely to be incompletely vaccinated than other age groups (48.8% vs. 15.9%, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), mainly due to missed MMR booster. Systemic immunosuppressive treatment was a significant predictor for incomplete vaccination status (OR 5.03, 95% CI 1.13–22.31, <italic>p</italic> = 0.03).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Full vaccination is possible in a high proportion of PRD patients. In addition to immunosuppressive therapy, reasons unrelated to PRDs are a frequent and possibly inadequate cause of missed vaccinations. Periodic vaccination status assessments are needed in pediatric rheumatology care.</p></sec>