Dados do Trabalho

Title

YELLOW FEVER: VACCINAL SITUATION OF PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS USING DISEASE-MODIFYING ANTIRHEUMATIC DRUGS

Background

Yellow fever (YF) is an endemic disease transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Immunization is an effective way of preventing disease. Despite its high efficacy, the YF vaccine can present serious adverse events in immunosupressed patients with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (CIMID). Our objective was the evaluation of the vaccination status of patients with rheumatoid arthritis in an endemic area of Brasil.

Materials and methods

A survey was carried out on the history of vaccination of patients with rheumatoid arthritis followed in an outpatient clinic between 2018 and 2019. The date of the vaccine was collected through the registry on the vaccine card and demographic and clinical information was collected from the medical records at the moment the patient received a vaccine.

Results

YF vaccination history of one hundred and two patients was collected, this group corresponded to 23.6% of the active patients attended in the rheumatoid arthritis clinic, ninety (88.2%) of the patients were female, on average fifty-eight years. Sixty (58.8%) subjects had been vaccinated with at least one dose, 23 (22.5%) patients reported not having been vaccinated and, in nineteen cases (18.6%) there was no information on the vaccine situation. Among the patients who had received at least one dose of the vaccine one (1.6%) were on mycophenolate mofetil, six (10%) on methotrexate doses higher than 20mg per week, five (8.3%) were in use of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARD) at the time of vaccination.

Conclusions

There is a need to reinforce the guidelines on vaccination for physicians and patients, especially regarding the YF vaccination in patients with rheumatic diseases. The development of educational campaigns is essential, since the population is unaware of their importance and risk factors.