Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov-Dec;57(10):1038-1044.
doi: 10.1097/MCG.0000000000001790. Epub 2022 Nov 9.

Herpes Zoster in Hospitalized Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: National Analysis of Disease Presentation and Age Distribution

Daniela Guerrero Vinsard  1 , Dorothy Wakefield  2 , Raffi Karagozian  3 , Francis A Farraye  4
Affiliations

Herpes Zoster in Hospitalized Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: National Analysis of Disease Presentation and Age Distribution

Daniela Guerrero Vinsard et al. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2023 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Studies have demonstrated an increased risk of herpes zoster (HZ) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Most recently, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended HZ vaccination for adults aged 19 years and older who are at increased risk of shingles due to their disease or drug-related immunosuppression. We aimed to assess the burden of HZ in IBD inpatients and contribute with scientific evidence for an appropriate age cut-off vaccination recommendation.

Materials and methods: Population-based cross-sectional analysis using the 2014 US National Inpatient Sample (NIS). We measured the frequencies and demographics of adult patients with IBD admitted to the hospital with an HZ diagnosis. Age-stratification analysis was performed, and age groups were compared with non-IBD inpatients with an HZ diagnosis.

Results: From 307,260 IBD discharges, 1110 (0.35%) patients were found to have HZ as follows: shingles 63%; post-herpetic neuralgia 26%; HZ with ophthalmic involvement 7%; HZ with neurological involvement 4%. Women with IBD were more likely to have shingles ( P =0.002) and post-herpetic neuralgia ( P =0.001) than men with IBD. The shingles distribution by age in IBD inpatients was 18 to 39 (13%), 40 to 49 (19%), 50 to 59 (18%), 60 to 99 (50%) compared with 18 to 39 (8%), 40 to 49 (6%), 50 to 59 years (14%), 60 to 99 (72%) in non-IBD inpatients ( P =0.0004).

Conclusions: Hospitalized patients with IBD were found to have a higher frequency of shingles at younger ages when compared with hospitalized patients without IBD. Shingles is more frequent in women, and their prevalence steadily increases with aging though 32% of cases were seen in patients younger than age 50.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

F.A.F. has served on advisory boards for BMS, Braintree Labs, GI Reviewers, Glaxo Smith Kline, Innovation Pharmaceuticals, Iterative Scopes, Janssen, Pfizer, and Sebela. F.A.F. serves on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for Adiso Therapeutics and Lilly. The remaining authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Gnann JW, Whitley RJ. Herpes zoster. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:340–346.
    1. Johnson RW, Rice ASC. Postherpetic neuralgia. N Engl J Med. 2014;371:1526–1533.
    1. Helgason S, Petursson G, Gudmundsson S, et al. Prevalence of postherpetic neuralgia after a first episode of herpes zoster: prospective study with long term follow up. Br Med J. 2000;321:794–796.
    1. Severson EA, Baratz KH, Hodge DO, et al. Herpes zoster ophthalmicus in Olmsted County, Minnesota: Have systemic antivirals made a difference? Arch Ophthalmol. 2003;121:386–390.
    1. Gilden DH, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, LaGuardia JJ, et al. Neurologic complications of the reactivation of varicella-zoster virus. N Engl J Med. 2000;342:635–645.

LinkOut - more resources