Assessment of the vaccination status in rheumatic disease patients treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.

Patients with rheumatic diseases are at a higher risk for infections associated to the underlying pathology and immunosuppressive therapy. This fact leads to an increased morbidity and/or mortality. Effective vaccination is essential for the prevention of a significant number of these infections, namely influenza and pneumococcal vaccination. In our cohort, and despite current recommendations, vaccination rates are still low among patients with autoimune diseases, which is in agreement with the available literature. A greater effort from all physicians is required to improve these results and to make the difference.