Patients With IBD Have A High Risk for Shingles

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have a high risk for shingles, according to the findings of a recent study.

The study included 23,388 individuals with Crohn disease, 14,513 individuals with ulcerative colitis, and 1465 individuals with unclassified IBD who were enrolled in the Regie de l’Assurance Maladie du Québec health registry from 1996 to 2015. The researchers calculated the incidence rate of herpes zoster (person-years) according to age groups, sex, Charlson Comorbidity index, and IBD type. In addition, they calculated the age standardized incidence ratios (SIR) using the Quebec general population as reference.
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A total of 2158 herpes zoster cases were identified. The crude incidence rate was 6.67 cases per 1000 person-years for individuals with Crohn disease and 7.22 cases per 1000 person-years for individuals with ulcerative colitis. Individuals with unclassified IBD had a crude incidence rate of 7.54 cases per 1000 person-years.

The researchers did not identify a significant time trend. However, persons aged 50 years and older with IBD had a high incidence of herpes zoster, as well as persons aged 0 to 17 years (SIR, 3.38; 95% CI 2.64–4.26), especially among females.

“These data suggest that herpes zoster incidence is high in the IBD population. Preventives measures should be implemented in this at-risk population,” the researchers concluded.

Reference

Côté-Daigneault J, Bessissow T, Nicolae MV, et al. Herpes zoster incidence in inflammatory bowel disease patients: a population-based study. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases [published online Ocotber 5, 2018]. Inflamm Bowel Dis. https://doi.org/10.1093/ibd/izy311