SAT0463 Incidence of Herpes Zoster Infections in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Patients – Experience of the Biker Registry

Background An increased risk of herpes zoster among patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), especially with exposure to immunosuppressant medications and biologics have been described. Objectives We determined incidence rates of herpes zoster and medication among children with JIA. Methods Courses of treatments documented in the German Biologics Register (BiKeR) were analyzed to identify patients with herpes zoster and calculated crude infection rates (IR). Incidence ratio (IRR) was compared to published rates of 1.1/1000 person years(ref.). Demographics and exposure to corticosteroids, immunosuppressive drugs and biologics were analyzed. Results The JIA cohort included 3,042 patients with 5,407 person-years of follow-up; 1,628 have used corticosteroids, 2,930 have used methotrexate, 299 azathioprine, 192 cyclosportine A, 1685 etanercept, 299 adalimumab and 48 tocilizumab. In total 18 herpes zoster events have been documented (6/1000 patients [3.2-8.7]; 3.3/1000 patient years [2.1-5.3]). Thus the incidence rate was higher than expected (p