Pneumonia vaccination timing in relation to starting conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Costello, Ruth E;
Humphreys, Jenny H;
Winthrop, Kevin L;
Dixon, William G;
(2020)
Pneumonia vaccination timing in relation to starting conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 79 (12).
pp. 1665-1666.
ISSN 0003-4967
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-217255
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Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk
of infections, and pneumococcal vaccination is recommended.
With some evidence that pneumococcal vaccinations are not as
effective when administered after starting disease-modifying
antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), in particular methotrexate,1
guidance on when best to vaccinate, in relation to DMARDs,
has become more consistent in recent years. Early European
League Against Rheumatism guidelines (2011) only referred to
B-cell depleting biological DMARDs, but more recent guide�lines (2019)2
recommend vaccination prior to commencement
of all DMARD types. Since 2011, British Society for Rheuma�tology (BSR) guidance advises vaccination prior to starting any
DMARD.3 4 The aims of this study were to explore the timing
of pneumococcal vaccination in patients with RA in relation
to starting conventional synthetic DMARDs (csDMARDs) and
examine whether this has changed over time.