Severe COVID-19 infection risk low for children with IBD regardless of immunosuppressants
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Children with inflammatory bowel disease had a low risk of severe COVID-19 infection, even while taking immunosuppressants, according to a poster.
“Children with IBD often receive immunosuppressive medications that may increase risk of infectious complications,” Erica Brenner, MD, MSCR, a pediatric gastroenterologist and inflammatory bowel disease fellow and researcher at the University of North Carolina, and authors presented at the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition Annual Meeting.
Brenner and colleagues analyzed pediatric IBD COVID-19 cases from 35 countries based on updated data from the Surveillance Epidemiology of Coronavirus Under Research Exclusion-IBD (SECURE-IBD) database.
Of the 540 patients (mean age, 15.1 years; 242 females) evaluated, there were no deaths and only 4% (n = 23) of patients were hospitalized for COVID-19, with 1% (n = 5) requiring intensive care and 0.4% (n = 2) requiring mechanical ventilation. Brenner noted the patients that required ventilation had ulcerative colitis and were taking mesalamine.
When assessing the use of IBD medication, 48% of patients used tumor necrosis factor antagonist monotherapy and 21% used sulfasalazine/mesalamine.
The authors concluded that factors linked to hospitalization included the patients’ non-IBD comorbid conditions, the severity of IBD, gastrointestinal symptoms, Hispanic ethnicity, and steroid. After adjusting for disease activity, the use of sulfasalazine/mesalamine was not considered a risk factor (adjusted OR = 2.19; 95% CI, 0.86-5.55). The use of TNF antagonist monotherapy decreased the likelihood of hospitalization.
The authors also noted in their results that 86% of the children had no non-IBD comorbidities.
“These data may reassure families and providers of children with IBD,” the researchers wrote.
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Brenner E, et al. Poster 100. Presented at: North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition Annual Meeting; Dec. 12-18, 2021 (virtual meeting).
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