Characteristics of patients without response after the second dose of vaccine treated with RTX for AIDs according to their seroconversion after the third dose
| Non-responders (n=53) | Responders (n=9) | P value | |
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 61 (45 (4–69) | 58 (52–72) | 0.31 |
| Female sex, n (%) | 44 (83) | 6 (67) | 0.36 |
| Underlying disease, n (%) | |||
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 37 (70) | 5 (56) | 0.45 |
| Other AID | 16 (30) | 4 (44) | |
| RTX treatment | |||
| Received an RTX infusion between doses 2 and 3, n (%) | 15 (28) | 3 (33) | 0.71 |
| Time between the last RTX infusion and the third dose of vaccine (days), median (IQR) | 165 (124–252) | 187 (150–360) | 0.19 |
| Less than 3 months between the last RTX infusion and the third dose of vaccine, n (%) | 10 (19) | 1 (11) | 0.99 |
| Previous number of RTX injections, median (IQR) | 7 (4–10) | 6 (4–11) | 0.66 |
| Antispike response to the second dose | |||
| Detectable but bellow 49 BAU/mL, n/n (%) | 2/48 (4) | 4/8 (50) | 0.0025 |
| Antispike response to the third dose | |||
| Undetectable, n (%) | 36 (68) | 0 | NA |
| Detectable but below 49 BAU/mL n (%) | 17 (32) | 0 | NA |
| >49 and <243 BAU/mL, n (%) | 0 | 2 (22) | NA |
| >243 BAU/mL, n (%) | 0 | 7 (78) | NA |
| Vaccination scheme | |||
| Time between the third dose and serological assessment (days), median (IQR) | 49 (21–90) | 54 (19–97) | 0,9 |
| Interval between second and third vaccine dose in days, median (IQR) | 84 (46–204) | 129 (96–182) | 0.41 |
| Comedications | |||
| Corticosteroids n (%) | 20 (38) | 3 (33.3) | 0.99 |
| Prednisone equivalent dose per day (mg), median (IQR) | 5 (5–6) | 5 (5–10) | 0.48 |
| Methotrexate, n (%) | 33 (62) | 3 (33) | 0.15 |
Results are expressed as median and were compared using Fisher exact test for categorical variables and Mann-Whitney for continuous variables.
AID, autoimmune disease; BAU, binding antibody unit; NA, not applicable; RTX, rituximab.