Compliance with recommended pneumococcal vaccination schedule in patients treated for rheumatoid arthritis: A retrospective cohort study in the Veterans Affairs population

Introduction: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is a leading cause of death. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are at risk of IPD due to immunosuppressant medications. Up until 2022, two pneumococcal vaccines, the 13-valent Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), were recommended. Despite the recommendation change to give a single 20-valent PCV vaccine (PCV20), some still require multiple vaccinations. There is a need to identify barriers to vaccine uptake.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess the on-time vaccination rates for PCV13 and PPSV23 in treated RA patients between 2010 and 2018 using national Veterans Affairs data. Patients > 18 years of age diagnosed with RA and newly initiated on RA treatment were included. Pneumococcal vaccine compliance was assessed by measuring on-time receipt of PCV13 and PPSV23 vaccinations. We identified factors using multivariate logistic regression and described the occurrence of these factors using descriptive statistics.

Results: A total of 39,243 patients were included in the study. Most patients were white (75.8 %), male (85.4 %), on methotrexate therapy (41.4 %). The average age was 62.3 years. The proportion of patients considered vaccine compliant is 43.9 %. The primary independent risk factors for vaccine non-compliance were black/African American race (Odds Ratio [OR] 1.26, 95 % Confidence Interval [CI] 1.19-1.34) or missing/unknown race (OR 1.45, 95 % CI 1.31-1.61), missing/unknown ethnicity (OR 1.21, 1.02-1.43), never married (OR 1.10, 95 % CI 1.02-1.19) or widowed (OR 1.23, 95 % CI 1.12-1.34), diagnosed with congestive heart failure (OR 1.10, 95 % CI 1.00-1.22), or dementia (OR 1.48, 95 % CI 1.16-1.91). The proportion of patients who were non-compliant in patients who were vaccine naïve was 32.1 % and the non-compliance rate for non-naïve patients was 65.3 %.

Conclusions: Providers should identify barriers to pneumococcal vaccination in RA patients to improve compliance. Efforts to increase vaccination should be tailored to specific high-risk groups.