Race is Associated With a Higher Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccine in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

Background: The International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD) guidelines recommend that all patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, Black patients are more likely than White patients to be hospitalized and need ICU care or ventilatory support for COVID-19. We conducted a study to investigate demographics and factors associated with uptake and refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine among adult IBD patients at a tertiary care center in the Southeast. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in adult patients who presented for care at the Emory University IBD clinic between August-December 2022. Data was obtained via paper surveys distributed in clinic and electronic surveys sent via e-mails. The survey included information on patient demographics, IBD disease history, and factors associated with their decision to receive or refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between these self-reported factors and their association with COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Results: There were 180 patients in this study with a median age of 47.7 years. 67.8% were female. They were more likely to have Crohn’s disease (61.1%), with 54.4% of patients having IBD for greater than 10 years. In our cohort, 92.2% of patients received the COVID-19 vaccine. In univariate analysis, IBD patients who were Black or African American were statistically significantly more likely to be unvaccinated when compared to those who were non-Black (OR 5.1, CI 1.7-15.9, p=0.0043). No other demographic or disease factors were found to have any association with vaccine uptake. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that patients who identify as Black or African American patients have lower rates of COVID-19 vaccine uptake versus those who are non-Black. With the spread of new variants there is a need for patients to get booster vaccines. It is important to address disparities in vaccine uptake to prevent minority patients from remaining unvaccinated, and therefore at a greater risk of severe infection. Further studies are needed to investigate factors that would encourage vaccine-hesitant patients to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and other health maintenance vaccines.