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Immunomodulators Do Not Affect COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy
TOPLINE:
The results of study suggest that biologics and small molecule inhibitors (SMIs) do not impair the protective effect of COVID-19 vaccine against hospitalization in patients with psoriasis and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).
METHODOLOGY:
- It remains unknown whether immunomodulatory therapies impair COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and increase hospitalization rates linked to COVID-19 in patients with inflammatory skin conditions such as psoriasis or HS.
- Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the Epic Cosmos database from January 2020 to October 2023, identifying 30,845 patients with psoriasis or HS.
- Overall, 22,293 patients with documented completion of their primary COVID-19 vaccine series were included in the analysis.
- Of the vaccinated patients, they compared 7046 patients with psoriasis on SMIs and 2033 with psoriasis or HS on biologics with 13,214 patients who did not receive biologics or SMIs.
- The primary outcome was the COVID-19 hospitalization rate.
TAKEAWAY:
- Treatment with biologics did not increase COVID-19-related hospitalization rates in vaccinated patients with psoriasis or HS (hospitalization rate, 6.0% for both those taking and those not taking a biologic; P > .99).
- Similarly, hospitalization rates did not significantly differ between vaccinated patients who received SMIs vs those who did not (7.1% vs 6.0%; P = .0596).
IN PRACTICE:
These findings "encourage dermatologists to continue treating [psoriasis]/HS confidently despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," the authors concluded.
SOURCE:
The study led by Bella R Lee from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, was published online on March 13, 2024, in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
LIMITATIONS:
Multivariable adjustments could not be performed in this study due to unavailability of individual-level data, and hospital admissions that occurred outside the Epic system were not captured.
DISCLOSURES:
The study did not receive any funding. All authors declared no conflicts of interest.
