Study suggests people with rheumatoid arthritis may be missing out on vaccinations

A new study has found the people with rheumatoid arthritis may be missing out on important vaccinations, which could potentially put them at a great risk of infection.

In an Arthritis Research UK-funded study from the University of Manchester, researchers have identified a shortfall in the uptake of influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations among people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, after examining the electronic patient records of 5,724 individuals.

For this particular study, published in PLOS One, the researchers specially looked at date from patients diagnosed with the disease who were being treated with certain types of immunosuppressive drugs.

The found that one in five people had not been vaccinated against the flu and half had not been given the pneumonia vaccine over a five-year follow-up period. This is thought to be a particular problem because people with rheumatoid arthritis already have double to normal risk of infection compared to the rest of the population.

The study also found that younger patients, people who visited their GP less often and those who were not considered to be at increased risk of infection for another non-arthritis-related reason were least likely to be vaccinated.

One of the key reasons for this problem is the fact that current guidance on immunization standards for these patients is unclear, while there is also limited money available to provide the vaccines.

Dr Ben Brown, a GP who was part of the study team, says, “In future, it may be beneficial for rheumatologists to provide GPs with specific advice about appropriate vaccination for individual patients, or to consider administering the vaccinations themselves in their own clinics – either way, both approaches should be adequately funded.”

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