P764 Effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 Vaccine among Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A medical center hospital-based study in central Taiwan
Wu, Y.H.(1)*;Chou, J.W.(2);Huang, P.J.(1);Wang, C.P.(1);Cheng, K.S.(1);
(1)China Medical University Hospital, Center for Digestive Medicine- Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung, Taiwan;(2)China Medical University Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung City, Taiwan;
Background
In 2020, the world faced the unprecedented crisis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 infection resulted in many complications for IBD patients. However, the association of IBD patients with COVID-19 who had been vaccinated receiving biologics, immunomodulators, or steroids therapies is lacking in Taiwan. Thus, we hypothesized that the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic would have some effects on IBD patients who were vaccinated and performed this retrospective study. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with IBD receiving biologics, immunomodulators, or steroids therapies in a medical center hospital in middle Taiwan.
Methods
From January 1980 to October 2022, a total of 286 consecutive patients with IBD (UC: 184 patients; CD: 102 patients) was enrolled into our current study. There were 155 patients had received vaccine for at least one dose. Finally, 51 patients who were vaccinated still suffered from COVID-19 with an infection rate of 32.9%. We analyzed the clinical manifestations of COVID-19-positive in IBD patients. Clinical characteristic, and treatment outcomes of all patients with COVID-19 who had been vaccinated were analyzed.
Results
The mean diagnostic age of these enrolled patients was 45.1years. Male accounted for the majority of our all patients in the study (76.5%). There were 54.1% patients had received COVID-19 vaccine for at least one dose. The mean dose of COVID-19 vaccine was 2.16. Patients with UC presented significantly higher infection rate of COVID-19 than patients with CD. (Table 1). The most common clinical manifestations were sore throat, followed by fever, cough, runny nose and fatigue. The most common type of biologics used in these patients with IBD was Vedolizumab, followed by Adalimumab and Infliximab. There were no differences in the COVID-19 infection rate in different treatment groups among patients with UC or CD patients(Table 2, 3).
Conclusion
Our current study showed the risk of COVID-19 in IBD patients is not specifically higher than the general population. Our 51 patients with COVID-19 infection had a good outcome and none one needed hospitalization. Patients with UC presented significantly higher infection rate of COVID-19 than patients with CD. The use of biologics or immunomodulators was not associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 in patients with IBD. The use of steroids was also not associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 in patients with IBD if steroids were held two weeks or decreased dosage before vaccinations. Furthermore, we found that IBD patients under adequate therapy can reduce the severity of COVID-19.