Key clinical point: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) did not show an increased risk for arthritis flare after completing 2 doses of mRNA (BNT162b2) or inactivated virus (CoronaVac) COVID-19 vaccination.
Major finding: There was no association between receiving 2 doses of mRNA vaccine (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR], 0.86; 95% CI, 0.73-1.01) or inactivated virus vaccine (aIRR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.74-1.02) and experiencing arthritis flares. The per-patient prescription and distribution of rheumatic drug prescriptions were similar for vaccinated and nonvaccinated patients ( P > .1).
Study details: Findings are from a retrospective cohort study including 5,493 patients with RA, of which 653 patients received mRNA vaccine, 671 patients received inactivated virus vaccine, and the remaining were nonvaccinated.
Disclosures: This study was funded by the Food and Health Bureau (FHB), Hong Kong. The authors declared receiving research grants, consultancy fees, postdoctoral fellowship, speaker fees, and/ or honorarium from various sources including FHB.
Source: Li X et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Oct 22. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2021-221571 .