Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study participants.
| Characteristics | Case (N = 14) n (%) | Control (N = 18) n (%) | p -value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (mean, 95% CI) | 43.9 (36.6–51.2) | 44.6 (37.1–52.0) | 0.890a |
| Sex, male (%) | 4 (28.6) | 7 (38.9) | 0.712b |
| Autoimmune skin diseases (%) | <0.001*b | ||
| - Pemphigus | 7 (50.0) | 1 (5.6) | |
| - Psoriasis | 6 (42.9) | 1 (5.6) | |
| - Chronic spontaneous urticaria | 1 (7.1) | 1 (5.6) | |
| - No autoimmune skin diseases | 0 (0) | 15 (83.2) | |
|
Baseline peripheral blood flow cytometry (percentages among total lymphocytes, mean, 95%CI) |
|||
| - %CD4+ T-lymphocytes | 61.3 (56.6–66.0) | 59.6 (55.1–64.0) | 0.585a |
| - %CD8+ T-lymphocytes | 31.1 (27.1–35.1) | 30.8 (26.5–35.0) | 0.902a |
| - %CD19+ B-lymphocytes | 14.9 (11.6–18.1) | 14.2 (11.7–16.7) | 0.742a |
| Baseline immunoglobulin level (g/L) | |||
| - IgM (median, IQR) | 1.0 (0.6–1.8) | 1.0 (0.7–1.5) | 0.718c |
| - IgG (median, IQR) | 12.5 (11.4–14.4) | 12.8 (10.4–14.7) | 0.909c |
| - IgA (mean, 95%CI) | 2.9 (2.4–3.3) | 2.4 (2.1–2.8) | 0.082a |
|
Systemic immunosuppressive medications (% of participants who used the medications) |
|||
| - Azathioprine | 5 (35.7) | 0 | |
| - Cyclosporin | 1 (7.1) | 0 | |
| - Mycophenolate mofetil | 1 (7.1) | 0 | |
| - Moderate-to-high dose prednisolone (≥10 mg/day) | 2 (14.3) | 0 | |
| - Low-dose prednisolone (<10 mg/day) | 3 (21.4) | 0 | |
| - High-dose methotrexate (>10 mg/week) | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| - Low-dose methotrexate (≤ 10 mg/week) | 3 (21.4) | 0 | |
| - Biologics‡ | 6 (42.9) | 0 | |
| Number of immunosuppressants used (%) | |||
| - 0 | 0 (0) | 18 (100) | |
| - 1 | 8 (57.2) | 0 | |
| - 2 | 5 (35.7) | 0 | |
| - 3 | 1 (7.1) | 0 | |
| Post-vaccination immunogenicity | |||
| - Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG (AU/mL, median, IQR) |
666.2 (312.2–987.3) |
1,208.0 (774.1–1,910.0) |
0.028*c |
| - Neutralizing activity of sNAb (%inhibition, mean, 95%CI) |
43.1 (29.2–57.0) |
52.9 (41.3–64.6) |
0.252a |
| - Post-vaccination seroconversion rate† (%) | 56.3 | 77.8 | 0.180d |
†
Seroconversion rates were calculated from the percentages of study participants who tested positive for sNAb in the group.
‡
Biologics include secukinumab, ixekizumab, and omalizumab at standard doses for their respective disorders.
a
p-value from t-tests.
b
p-value from Fisher's exact tests.
c
p-value from Wilcoxon rank-sum tests.
d
p-value from Chi-squared tests.
*
p < 0.05.
AU/mL, arbitrary unit per milliliter; CD, cluster of differentiation; CI, confidence interval; IgA, immunoglobulin A; IgG, immunoglobulin G; IgM, immunoglobulin M; IQR, interquartile range; sNAb, surrogate neutralizing antibody; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.