LAS VEGAS – Herpes zoster infection could pose a special risk for younger patients with inflammatory bowel disease who are on immunosuppressant or biologic therapies, a new study suggests.
Dr. Marie L. Borum
About 3% of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients developed herpes zoster (HZ) over a 5-year period at a single center, researchers found, and their average age was 37 years. The mean national age of HZ diagnosis is 59 years, and the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend that people get vaccinated against HZ, or shingles, until age 50.
“Increased efforts should be made to administer herpes zoster vaccine in all eligible IBD patients, and said gastroenterologist and study coauthor Marie L. Borum, MD, MPH, of George Washington University, Washington. She spoke in an interview before presenting the study findings at the the Crohn’s & Colitis Congress – a partnership of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and the American Gastroenterological Association.
Dr. Borum and her associates launched the study, published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, after noticing an increase in HZ cases among patients with IBD. The authors retrospectively analyzed the medical charts of all patients with IBD who were treated at a single center from 2012 to 2017 (n = 393; 55% female; average age, 44 years). Nearly all had ulcerative colitis (71%) or Crohn’s disease (24%).
Over the 5-year period, 11 patients – 5 with ulcerative colitis, 5 with Crohn’s disease, and 1 patient with unspecified colitis – were diagnosed with HZ. All were taking immunosuppressant or biologic medications, and none had been vaccinated against HZ.
The difference in the average age of diagnosis of the infected patients versus the national mean age (37 years vs. 59 years) was statistically significant (P less than .0001).
The IBD patients with HZ often had postherpetic neuralgia, Dr. Borum said.
Previous studies also have linked IBD to higher rates of HZ. A 2018 retrospective study of veterans found that “the incidence rates of herpes zoster in all age groups and all IBD medication subgroups were substantially higher than that in the oldest group of patients without IBD [older than 60 years]” (Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2018 Dec;16[12]:1919-27).
In 2017, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison received a grant to study immunity to the varicella zoster virus in patients with IBD. A university press release said the results “could support recommendations for universal herpes zoster immunization for all IBD patients above the age of 40.”
Why might IBD boost the risk of HZ? “Individuals with IBD may have an increased risk of developing more episodes of herpes zoster due to immune dysregulation,” Dr. Borum said. “Those on immunosuppressants or biologic therapies have greater risk of more frequent and severe complications. It has been speculated that Janus kinase inhibitors may be associated with an increased risk for developing HZ.”
Dr. Borum noted that the study is limited by its size and single-center design. “However, it supports the recommendations that additional research is needed to fully understand the potential impact of HZ on IBD patients.”
The study authors reported no relevant disclosures.
SOURCE: Borum ML et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2019 Feb 7. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izy393.073.