Adherence to guidelines across different specialties to prevent infections in patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapies

Table 2 Characteristics of the population studied

	Dermatology [n = 38]	Gastroenterolgy [n = 42]	Haematology [n = 30]	Nephrology [n = 45]	Rheumatology [n = 49]	Combined population [n = 204]
Age [median], years	46	43	59	58	57	54
Male gender, n [%]	21 [47]	22 [51]	15 [50]	20 [44]	20 [41]	98 [48]
Non-biologic ISD^a, n [%]
Prednisolone^b	0 [0]	12 [29]	22 [73]	41 [91]	7 14]	82 [40]
Azathioprine	0 [0]	13 [33]	1 [3]	3 [7]	1 [2]	19 [9]
Methotrexate	3 [8]	2 [5]	2 [7]	0 [0]	14 [29]	21 [10]
MMF^c	0 [0]	0 [0]	1 [3]	20 [44]	0 [0]	21 [10]
Cyclophosphamide	0 [0]	0 [0]	17 [57]	16 [36]	1 [2]	34 [17]
Tacrolimus	0 [0]	0 [0]	3 [10]	20 [44]	0 [0]	23 [11]
Biologic ISD, n [%]
Infliximab	1 [3]	37 [88]	0 [0]	0 [0]	16 [33]	54 [26]
Adelumimab	24 [63]	0 [0]	1 [3]	0 [0]	0 [0]	15 [12]
Etanercept	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	2 [4]	2 [1]
Secukinumab	1 [3]	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	1 [0.5]
Abatacept	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	5 [10]	5 [2]
Ustekinumab	10 [26]	0 [0]	0 [0]	1 [2]	0 [0]	11 [5]
Rituximab	1 [3]	0 [0]	12 [40]	10 [22]	19 [39]	42 [21]
Tociliuzumab	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	8 [16]	8 [4]
Other ISD^d, n [%]	0 [0]	6 [14]	16 [53]	1 [2]	0 [0]	23 [11]
Duration of therapy, n [%]
Up to 4 weeks	0 [0]	0 [0]	0 [0]	2 [4]	5 [10]	7 [3]
4 weeks to 1 year	10 [26]	10 [24]	14 [47]	24 [53]	5 [10]	63 [31]
More than 1 year	28 [74]	32 [74]	16 [53]	19 [42]	39 [80]	134 [66]

^aISD: immunosuppressant drug; ^b Or other steroid drug; ^c Mycophenolate mofitil. ^d includes both biologic and non-biologic immunosuppressant drugs

ISSN: 1471-2334