New consensus statements, released by a panel of 11 experts, provide 27 specific recommendations related to the use of vaccines in patients with hemophilia.
The recommendations from the Italian Haemophilia and Vaccinations (HEVA) project were authored by an 11-member committee with expertise in both hemophilia and immunization. The authors reviewed 20 relevant studies published before August 30, 2017.
“Vaccination of patients with severe congenital bleeding disorders remains a challenge, and clinicians are often uncertain about immunization recommendations for these patients,” wrote Elena Santagostino, MD, PhD, of the Centro Emofilia e Trombosi Angelo Bianchi Bonomi in Milan, Italy, and her colleagues. The report is published in Haemophilia.
The statements were also validated by separate groups of clinicians at hemophilia treatment centers across Italy.
The key issues described included vaccination schedule, route of administration, vaccination of patients with antibodies that impede coagulation factor VIII inhibitors, and risk of inhibitor formation with vaccination.
In general, committee members agreed on the majority of statements, with the exception of those related to the possible links between vaccination and inhibitor formation. There were a total of five statements on which no consensus was reached.
Vaccinations in both adults and children with hemophilia should be provided in accordance with the institutional schedule for those without bleeding disorders, according to the recommendations.
“The only difference is that vaccination of patients with haemophilia requires comprehensive planning, taking into account disease severity, type and route of vaccination, and bleeding risk,” the experts wrote.
The panel also reported that current data suggest that vaccination timing is not affected by the timing of factor VIII replacement.
The authors acknowledged that the recommendations were formed by a group of experts from Italy using a specific consensus framework. As a result, they may not be applicable to all patient populations.
The manuscript was supported by Sobi. The authors reported financial relationships with Bayer, Bioverativ, CSL Behring, Grifols, Kedrion, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and other companies.
SOURCE: Santagostino E et al. Haemophilia. 2019 Apr 16. doi: 10.1111/hae.13756.