Key clinical point: Findings from this real-world study identified the protective and risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections (BI) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had no COVID-19 infection and received the booster dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
Major finding: Older patients who were age > 50 years ( adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.38; P = .004 ) and patients receiving conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs ( aHR 0.52; P = .021 ) had a significantly lower risk for BI, whereas patients receiving anti-interleukin 6 receptor ( aHR 2.01; P = 0.039 ) and anti-CD20 ( aHR 2.88; P = .011 ) treatments had ~2 and ~3 times higher risks for BI, respectively.
Study details: This prospective study included participants who had never been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 and had received three doses of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine , of whom 194 had RA and 1002 were control individuals.
Disclosures: This study was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health and other sources. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Picchianti-Diamanti A et al. Older age, a high titre of neutralising antibodies and therapy with conventional DMARDs are associated with protection from breakthrough infection in rheumatoid arthritis patients after the booster dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Vaccines. 2023;11(11):1684 (Nov 2). doi: 10.3390/vaccines11111684