How do COVID-19 vaccines affect rheumatic diseases?
Lale Altan1
, Salim Mısırcı1, İlker Yağcı2, Meltem Karacaatlı2, Feyza Ünlü Özkan3, Altuğ Güner1, İlknur Aktaş3
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine, Bursa, Türkiye
2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Türkiye
3Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Health Sciences, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye
Keywords: Anxiety, COVID-19 vaccines, rheumatic diseases, SARS-CoV-2.
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to investigate the effects of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines administered in Türkiye on disease activity and the side effects in the patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease (IRD).
Patients and methods: Between September 2021 and February 2022, a total of 536 patients with IRD (225 males, 311 females; mean age: 50.5±12.6 years; range, 18 to 93 years) who were vaccinated against COVID-19 and followed in the outpatient setting were included in the study. Vaccination status of the patients and whether they had COVID-19 were questioned. All patients were asked to rate their anxiety about the vaccination on a scale of 0-10 before and after the shots. They were asked whether they experienced any side effects and an increase in IRD complaints after vaccination.
Results: A total of 128 (23.9%) patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 before the first vaccination. Totally, 180 (33.6%) patients were vaccinated with CoronaVac (Sinovac) and 214 (39.9%) patients with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech). Also, 142 (26.5%) patients were given both vaccines. When the anxiety level of the patients before the first vaccination was questioned, 53.4% reported that they had no anxiety. The rate of patients without any anxiety after vaccination was 67.9%. Comparison of pre- (median Q3=6) and post-vaccine (median Q3=1) anxiety values showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). A total of 283 (52.8%) patients reported side effects after vaccination. When both vaccines were compared with each other, the rate of the side effects was higher in the BNT162b2 group (p<0.001) and also in the CoronaVac plus BNT162b2 group (p=0.022). There was no statistically significant difference between BNT162b2 and CoronaVac plus BNT162b2 in terms of side effects (p=0.066). Forty-five (8.4%) patients had increased rheumatic complaints after vaccination.
Conclusion: The lack of a significant increase in disease activity after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with IRD and the absence of serious side effects requiring hospitalization support the safety of vaccines in this patient group.
Citation: Altan L, Mısırcı S, Yağcı İ, Karacaatlı M, Ünlü Özkan F, Güner A, et al. How do COVID-19 vaccines affect rheumatic diseases?. Arch Rheumatol 2023;38(1):75-81.
The study protocol was approved by the Marmara University Ethics Committee (date: 03.09.2022, no: 09.2021.1072). The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
A written informed consent was obtained from each patient.
Data Sharing Statement:
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
All authors contributed equally to the article.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.