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. 2023 Oct 13;11(10):1591.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11101591.

Attitudes towards Vaccinations in a National Italian Cohort of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Andrea Costantino  1   2 , Marco Michelon  2 , Daniele Noviello  2 , Fabio Salvatore Macaluso  3 , Salvo Leone  4 , Nicole Bonaccorso  5 , Claudio Costantino  5 , Maurizio Vecchi  1   2 , Flavio Caprioli  1   2 ; AMICI Scientific Board
Affiliations

Attitudes towards Vaccinations in a National Italian Cohort of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Andrea Costantino et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: The vaccination status of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should be investigated before starting any treatment, and patients should eventually be vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs). Patients with IBD may have suboptimal vaccination rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the vaccination coverage, attitude towards vaccinations, and determinants among an Italian cohort of patients with IBD.

Methods: AMICI, the Italian IBD patients' association, sent an anonymous web-based questionnaire in February 2021. Previous vaccination status and patients' attitudes towards vaccinations were recorded. We examined the factors influencing their attitudes using crude and adjusted odds ratios (adjORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: Among the 4039 patients invited, 1252 patients (including 729 women, median age 47.7 [37-58]) completed the questionnaire, with a response rate of 25.3%. Respondents declared being vaccinated against tetanus (74.1%), flu (67.7%; last season), MMR (43.3%), HBV (37.1%), pneumococcus (29.1%), meningitis (20%), HAV (16%), VZV (15.3%), and HPV (7.6%). Complete vaccination history was not remembered by 20.7% of the patients. One thousand one hundred and twelve (88.8%) expressed a positive attitude towards vaccination, 91 (7.3%) were indifferent, and 49 (3.9%) reported being opposed to vaccinations. The belief of a possible return of VPDs with a decline in vaccination coverage rates was the factor most strongly related to a positive attitude towards vaccinations (adjOR 5.67, 95% CI 3.45-9.30, p-value < 0.001).

Conclusions: A low vaccination rate against some VPDs was found among a national cohort of patients with IBD, despite a generally positive attitude towards vaccinations.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; IBD; VZV; inflammatory bowel disease; ulcerative colitis; vaccination; vaccine; vaccine hesitancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

A.C. served as an advisory board member and/or received lecture grants from Alfasigma, Aurora Biofarma, Bromatech, Janssen, Ferring, Mayloy-Spindler, Simbios, and Takeda. FSM served as an advisory board member and/or received lecture grants from AbbVie, Biogen, Galapagos, Janssen, MSD, Pfizer, Samsung Bioepis, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. C.C. reports Pfizer, MSD, GSK, Seqirus, and Sanofi-Pasteur. M.V. served as a consultant to: Abbvie, MSD, Takeda, Janssen-Cilag, Celgene; he received lecturer fees from Abbvie, Ferring, Takeda, MSD, Janssen-Cilag, Zambon. F.C. served as a consultant to: Mundipharma, Abbvie, MSD, Takeda, Janssen, Roche, and Celgene; he received lecture fees from Abbvie, Ferring, Takeda, Allergy Therapeutics, and Janssen and unrestricted research grants from Giuliani, Sofar, MS and D, Takeda, and Abbvie. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

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