OP21 COVID-19 morbidity/mortality and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Poland: Nationwide Data

Abstract Background According to the international recommendations, patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 at the earliest opportunity to do so. The aim of this study was to assess the morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in the adult IBD population in Poland with respect to their vaccination status. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of administrative health claims collected by the National Health Fund, the sole public payer in Poland. We identified adult IBD patients as of December 31th, 2021 who had at least two or more records with K50 or K51 code and two or more prescriptions for IBD drugs reimbursed or else intestinal surgery preceding the record. The vaccination status in 2021 was assessed using the database maintained by the Ministry of Health. We examined the vaccination process against SARS-CoV-2 among IBD patients along with morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. We conducted a Cox proportional hazard model analysis to determine the hazard ratio of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization and death in respect to the vaccination status during the autumn wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (October–December 2021). Results As of December 31th, 2021 there were 93 068 adult patients diagnosed with IBD. The vaccination rate in IBD patients was significantly higher than in the general population of Poland (72.1% vs 63.8%; p<0.001) and grew with age, reaching the top value among those aged 70-79 years (88.2%) [Figure 1]. 87 353 IBD patients were included into the Cox proportional hazard analysis of autumn pandemic wave, during which there were 4 042 registered COVID-19 cases in IBD population. The peak value of a weekly average of incidence rate of COVID-19 was lower for vaccinated IBD patients (7.4/10000) than for unvaccinated ones (13.0/10000). The risk of being infected was significantly lower for vaccinated IBD patients (HR 0.53; 95%CI 0.5-0.57; p<0.001). The cumulative risk of being positively tested for COVID-19 shows Figure 2. The most notable protective effect of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was found in patients aged 60-69 years (HR 0.47; 95%CI 0.39-0.55) and in those aged 80 years and above (HR 0.44; 95%CI 0.32-0.63). The risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 was also significantly lower among the vaccinated IBD patients (HR 0.48; 95%CI 0.31-0.74, p<0.0001). The risk of death due to COVID-19 was more than 3 times decreased in vaccinated IBD patients in comparison to the remaining IBD population (HR 0.29, 95%CI 0.17-0.43, p<0.001) [Table 1]. Conclusion Adult patients with IBD were more likely to get vaccinated against SARS-COV-2 than adults in the general population of Poland. The vaccination significantly decreased the risk of the infection, hospitalization and death due to COVID-19.