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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 02 - Patients with systemic
lupus erythematosus (SLE) demonstrate a decreased immune response
after influenza vaccination compared with adults in the general
population, according to a report published in the December issue
of the Journal of Rheumatology.
Dr. Mahmoud Abu-Shakra, from Soroka Medical Center
in Beer-Sheva, Israel, and colleagues evaluated the immune response
of 24 SLE patients who received an inactivated influenza virus vaccine.
All of the patients were women and all had pre-vaccination hemagglutination
inhibition antibody levels that were comparable to those of healthy
age-matched subjects.
Six weeks after immunization, 75% of the patients
demonstrated an immune response to at least one of three antigens
included in the vaccine. More than half of the patients responded
to the H3N2 and B/Harbin/07/94 antigens, but only 37.5% responded
to the H1N1 antigen.
Predictors of a lower immune response to the vaccine
included patient age of 50 years or older, a daily prednisone dose
of 10 mg or higher, and the use of azathioprine, the authors note.
"Our data indicate that patients with SLE had a decreased
immune response against influenza vaccine, particularly against
influenza H1N1," the researchers state. Despite this, "patients
with SLE should be encouraged to receive the influenza vaccine,
since it is well tolerated and may be protective," they add.
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