Risk for Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Is Elevated in IBD

Does the flawed immune response to infective agents predispose patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to invasive pneumococcal disease? To address this question, investigators in Denmark analyzed data from 74,156 patients with IBD and nearly 1.5 million non-IBD controls, matched for age, sex, and area of residence on the date of IBD diagnosis.

The risk for invasive pneumococcal disease was twofold higher in patients with Crohn disease and 1.5-fold higher in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) than in non-IBD controls (both differences were statistically significant). The risk was highest during the first year after IBD diagnosis — nearly threefold higher in patients with Crohn disease than in controls.

Prior use of azathioprine sign…