Flu Vaccine Safe for Arthritis Patients

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Flu Vaccine Safe for Arthritis Patients

January 26, 2006



NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can

safely receive the flu vaccine each year as recommended, although

their response to the vaccine may be somewhat lower than in healthy

individuals, research hints.

There is some reluctance to vaccinate RA patients because there have

been reports of post-vaccination flares in disease activity, note

Israeli researchers in the ls of the Rheumatic Disease. Also, the

immune response to the vaccine in RA patients is uncertain.

To look into these issues, Dr. Ori Elkayem and others at Tel Aviv

Medical Center gave the flu vaccine to 82 RA patients and 30 healthy

controls.

In all study subjects, there were significant increases in antibody

titers for each antigen contained in the vaccine, although the titers

were lower in the arthritis patients than in the healthy control

subjects.

The immune response to the vaccine, although lower than normal in the

RA patients, was sufficient to offer protection against the three

antigens contained in the vaccine used in this study, the authors say.

In the RA patients, neither prednisone nor disease-modifying

antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) -- including methotrexate, infliximab

and etanercept -- adversely affected the immune response to the

vaccine. Importantly, they report, influenza vaccination was not

associated with arthritis flares.

" Based on our present data, " Elkayem and colleagues conclude, " we

feel that vaccination against influenza, which is strongly indicated

in rheumatoid arthritis, can be recommended in patients with this

disease. "

SOURCE: ls of Rheumatic Disease, February 2006.

http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_news_article.jspzQzidzEz573910

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