BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Patients with Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at an increased risk of developing herpes zoster (HZ). The effectiveness of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) in patients with IBD is unknown.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort study using Explorys (October 2017-April 2020; IBM Corporation, Somers, NY, USA), the effectiveness of RZV for the prevention of HZ in patients with IBD ≥ 50 years was compared to general population aged ≥ 50 years. Rates of de-novo HZ were compared between patients with IBD and the general population and stratified by number of RZV doses received. Results are presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS

The overall proportion of IBD patients ≥ 50 years who received HZ vaccination with the live zoster vaccine (ZVL) or RZV was low (n = 11320, out of 112,200 IBD patients in the cohort). A total of 1670 patients received RZV. Receipt of the RZV resulted in a significantly lower rate of HZ in IBD patients (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.23-0.56) compared to the general population (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.59-0.92). However, despite vaccination, patients with IBD who received the RZV were still 3-times more likely to develop HZ during the study follow up period compared to the general population receiving the RZV (OR 3.06, 95% CI 1.87-5.02) and unvaccinated IBD patients were 6-times more likely to develop HZ compared to general population (OR 6.21, 95% CI 6.02-6.41).

CONCLUSION

The recombinant zoster vaccine is effective in reducing the risk of HZ in patients with IBD compared to the general population. During our follow up period, patients with IBD, however, still remain at an increased risk for HZ despite vaccination.