Intest Res.  2024 Jul;22(3):336-350. 10.5217/ir.2023.00077.

Effects of COVID-19 vaccines on patient-reported outcomes in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a multicenter survey study in Korea

• Ji JH
• Shin SH
• Park YE
• Park J
• Park JJ
• Cheon JH
• Kim TI
• Kang SB
• Park SH
• Park SJ
• IBD Research Group of the Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases (KASID)

• KMID: 2558193
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5217/ir.2023.00077

Abstract

Background/Aims
The impact of vaccination on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients is still unknown, and no studies have assessed the changes in patient-reported outcomes (PROs) after vaccination in patients with IBD. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the impact of vaccines on the PROs of patients with IBD.
Methods
We conducted a questionnaire survey of patients with IBD who visited outpatient clinics at 4 specialized IBD clinics of referral university hospitals from April 2022 to June 2022. A total of 309 IBD patients were included in the study. Patient information was collected from a questionnaire and their medical records, including laboratory findings, were reviewed retrospectively. Risk factors associated with an increase in PROs after COVID-19 vaccination were analyzed using logistic regression analyses. In addition, we assessed whether there were differences in variables by vaccine order using the linear mixed model.
Results
In multivariate analysis, young age ( < 40 years) and ulcerative colitis (UC) were found to be independent risk factors for aggravation of PROs in patients with IBD. In all patients, platelet count significantly increased with continued vaccination in multiple pairwise comparisons. In UC patients, PROs such as the short health scale, UC-abdominal signs and symptoms, and UC-bowel signs and symptoms were aggravated significantly with continued vaccination. There was no significant increase in the variables of patients with Crohn’s disease.
Conclusions
Therefore, there may be a need to counsel patients with IBD younger than 40 years of age, and patients with UC before they receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

Keyword

Inflammatory bowel disease; COVID-19 vaccination; Patient-reported outcome measures

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Study flowchart. IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; COVID-19, coronavirus disease.

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  Fig. 2. The comparison of the serial patient-reported outcome scores and laboratory data by vaccine orders in the patients with inflammatory bowel disease vaccinated against COVID-19 using a linear mixed model: focusing on the variables evaluated as statistically significant. (A) In all patients, the platelet count significantly increased with continued vaccination. (B-D) In patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), SHS, UC-PRO/SS(A), UC-PRO/SS(B) were significantly aggravated with continued vaccination. SHS, short health scale; UC-PRO/SS(A), patient- reported outcomes signs and symptoms (abdominal symptoms) of UC; UC-PRO/SS(B), patient-reported outcomes signs and symptoms (bowel signs and symptoms) of UC; COVID-19, coronavirus disease.

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