Flu vaccine not associated with flares in patients with rheumatoid disorders

Reference

Nakafero G, Grainge MJ, Myles PR, et al. Association between inactivated influenza vaccine and primary care consultations for autoimmune rheumatic disease flares: a self-controlled case series study using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Ann Rheum Dis 2019;78:1122-1126.

Synopsis

These researchers searched a longitudinal database of more than 15 million people registered in over 700 general practices in the United Kingdom. The database contains records for 14,928 patients with rheumatic diseases, mostly (80.1%) rheumatoid arthritis, who received an inactivated influenza vaccine during the study period. For these patients, the researchers looked in the database for evidence of disease flare before and after vaccination, specifically office visits for a flare of rheumatoid arthritis and a new corticosteroid prescription, or vaccine hypersensitivity resulting in vasculitis or fever nonrelated to infection. By comparing baseline rates with postvaccination rates, each patient served as his or her own control. There was no evidence of an association between vaccination and any of these outcomes; in fact, patients on average had fewer visits for joint pain in the 90 days following vaccination (rate ratio 0.91; 95% CI 0.87 - 0.94).