Dataset Information

Increased Risk of Herpes Zoster in Adults ≥50 Years Old Diagnosed With COVID-19 in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Case reports have described herpes zoster (HZ) in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, this constitutes low-quality evidence for an association. We therefore performed a retrospective cohort study to assess the risk of developing HZ following a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Methods

We compared the HZ incidence in ≥50-year-olds diagnosed with COVID-19 vs those never diagnosed with COVID-19. We used data from the US MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters and Medicare Supplemental (3/2020-2/2021) and Optum Clinformatics Data Mart (3-12/2020) databases. Individuals with COVID-19 were exact-matched 1:4 to those without COVID-19 by age, sex, presence of HZ risk factors, and health care cost level. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs) were estimated by Poisson regression.

Results

A total of 394 677 individuals ≥50 years old with COVID-19 were matched with 1 577 346 individuals without COVID-19. Mean follow-up time after COVID-19 diagnosis and baseline characteristics were balanced between cohorts. Individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 had a 15% higher HZ risk than those without COVID-19 (aIRR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.07-1.24; P < .001). The increased HZ risk was more pronounced (21%) following COVID-19 hospitalization (aIRR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.03-1.41; P = .02).

Conclusions

We found that COVID-19 diagnosis in ≥50-year-olds was associated with a significantly increased risk of developing HZ, highlighting the relevance of maintaining HZ vaccination.

SUBMITTER: Bhavsar A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8982770 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Increased Risk of Herpes Zoster in Adults ≥50 Years Old Diagnosed With COVID-19 in the United States.

Bhavsar Amit A Lonnet Germain G Wang Chengbin C Chatzikonstantinidou Konstantina K Parikh Raunak R Brabant Yves Y Servotte Nathalie N Shi Meng M Widenmaier Robyn R Aris Emmanuel E

Open forum infectious diseases 20220309 5

<h4>Background</h4>Case reports have described herpes zoster (HZ) in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, this constitutes low-quality evidence for an association. We therefore performed a retrospective cohort study to assess the risk of developing HZ following a COVID-19 diagnosis.<h4>Methods</h4>We compared the HZ incidence in ≥50-year-olds diagnosed with COVID-19 vs those never diagnosed with COVID-19. We used data from the US MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters ...[more]

PMID: 35392454

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Project description:PurposeTo examine the effectiveness of the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) for preventing herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) in the general United States population.DesignRetrospective, observational cohort study.ParticipantsIndividuals enrolled in the OptumLabs Data Warehouse (OLDW; OptumLabs, Cambridge, MA) who were age eligible for herpes zoster (HZ) vaccination (≥50 years of age) from 2018 through 2019. The OLDW is a longitudinal, de-identified administrative claims and electronic health record database of patients in the United States with commercial insurance, Medicare Part D, or Medicare Advantage METHODS: Patients were required to have 365 days or more of continuous enrollment to be eligible. Those with a diagnosis code of HZ or an immunocompromising condition within 1 year before study inclusion were excluded. Vaccination with the RZV was ascertained by Current Procedural Terminology codes, and HZO was ascertained by International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, codes. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio of HZO associated with RZV, and inverse-probability weighting was used to control for confounding. Vaccine effectiveness was calculated from hazard ratios.Main outcome measuresIncidence of HZO in vaccinated versus unvaccinated person-times and vaccine effectiveness were assessed.ResultsFrom January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2019, a total of 4 842 579 individuals were included in this study. One hundred seventy-seven thousand two hundred eighty-nine (3.7%) received 2 valid doses of RZV. The incidence rate of HZO was 25.5 cases (95% confidence interval [CI], 17.4-35.8 cases) per 100 000 person-years in the vaccinated group compared with 76.7 cases (95% CI, 74.7-78.7 cases) in the unvaccinated group. The overall adjusted effectiveness of RZV against HZO was 89.1% (95% CI, 82.9%-93.0%).ConclusionsThe effectiveness of RZV against HZO in individuals 50 years of age and older is high in a clinical setting. However, the low vaccination rate in this study highlights the public health need to increase HZV use. Ophthalmologists can play an important role in recommending vaccination to eligible patients.

Dataset Information

Increased Risk of Herpes Zoster in Adults ≥50 Years Old Diagnosed With COVID-19 in the United States.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Increased Risk of Herpes Zoster in Adults ≥50 Years Old Diagnosed With COVID-19 in the United States.

Similar Datasets

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