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LP-116 To get, or not to get: risk and benefit of COVID-19 vaccine in Korean patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
  1. Seonghoon Park1,
  2. Ji Soo Lee2,
  3. Young Ho Lee3,
  4. Seung-Ki Kwok4,
  5. Yong-Gil Kim5,
  6. Yong-Beom Park6,
  7. Sung-Hwan Park4,
  8. Sang-Cheol Bae7,
  9. Chang Hee Suh8,
  10. Yoon-Kyung Sung7,
  11. Shin-Seok Lee9,
  12. Chang-Keun Lee5,
  13. Hye-Soon Lee10,
  14. Seung Min Jung10,
  15. Hoon-Suk Cha11 and
  16. Seung Cheol Shim12
  1. 1Internal medicine, Daegu catholic university school of medicine, Republic of Korea
  2. 2Internal medicine, Ewha Womans University Medical Center, Republic of Korea
  3. 3Rheumatology, Korea University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea
  4. 4Internal medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul Saint-Mary’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Republic of Korea
  5. 5Rheumatology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Republic of Korea
  6. 6Internal medicine, Institute for Immunology and Immunologic Disease, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea
  7. 7Rheumatology, Hanyang University Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases and Hanyang University Institute for Rheumatology, Republic of Korea
  8. 8Rheumatology, Ajou University Hospital, Republic of Korea
  9. 9Internal medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School and Hospital, Republic of Korea
  10. 10Internal medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Republic of Korea
  11. 11Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Republic of Korea
  12. 12Rheumatology, Daejeon Rheumatoid and Degenerative Arthritis Center, Chungnam National University Hospital, Republic of Korea

Abstract

Background Although the safety profile of COVID-19 vaccines was shown to be acceptable in the clinical trials, risk and benefit of the vaccines in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are not known, as these patients have been excluded in the trials. The aim of the COVID-19 Vaccine In Lupus (C1VIL) study was to assess the risk and benefits of COVID-19 vaccines in on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods Information regarding COVID-19 vaccination and COVID-19 infection were collected from 207 SLE patients seen at 12 academic medical centers, affiliated with the Korean society of SLE research (KSSR) by patient self-reported, descriptive questionnaire from DEC 2022 to JAN 2023. Primary outcomes included status of COVID-19 vaccination/infection, vaccination-related adverse events (AEs), and disease flares after COVID-19 vaccination/infection.

Results As of JAN 2023, 77.5% of patients had received at least 1 shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. Overall, vaccine-related AE occurred in 66% of the patients, and 4.5% of the patients had serious vaccine-related AE requiring hospitalization. The most common AE pain/redness on the injection site, followed by myalgia, and/or arthralgia. COVID-19 was confirmed in 156 patients, and 3.2% of the infected patients required hospitalization. The incidence of Covid-19 was higher in the age group of >40 years (p=0.049), but not significantly different between vaccinated and never-vaccinated groups (69.9% vs 55.6%, p=0.489). Disease flare requiring medication change or hospitalization occurred in 10.3% of patients after COVID-19 vaccination, whereas in 14.9% of patients after COVID-19 infection. Disease flare also occurred more frequently in the age group of >40 years (p=0.046).

Conclusions Vaccine hesitancy was observed in Korean patients with SLE, although vaccine-related AEs were mild to modest and disease flares were more frequent after COVID-19 infection than vaccination. Our data suggest that benefit of the COVID-19 vaccines appears to outweigh the risk in patients with SLE.

  • Systemic lupus erythematosus
  • COVID-19
  • vaccine
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