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The following is a summary of “Inborn errors of immunity are associated with increased COVID-19-related hospitalization and intensive care compared to the general population,” published in the October 2024 issue of Allergy and Immunology by Lindahl et al. 

Patients with inborn errors of immunity (IEI) are believed to be at higher risk for severe COVID-19 than the general population, but data quantifying this risk is limited. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the impact of COVID-19 on patients with IEI. 

They conducted a nationwide cohort study using Swedish registries to estimate the relative risk (RR) for hospitalization, intensive care, and death within 30 days of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test in an IEI population (n=2392) vs the general population (n=8,270,705), across 3 time periods: Pre-vaccination, Alpha/Delta, and Omicron, adjusting for key factors. 

The results showed that during the Pre-vaccination period, 25.2% of the IEI population were hospitalized, compared to 17.5% during the Alpha/Delta and 5.2% during the Omicron periods. The adjusted RR for hospitalization in the IEI population versus the general population was 3.1 [95% CI 2.1–4.2], 3.5 [2.4–4.8], and 4.3 [2.5–6.7] for the three periods, respectively. The adjusted RR for intensive care after COVID-19 was 5.6 [2.6–10.8], 4.7 [1.7–10.1], and 4.7 [1.7–10.1]. Five IEI patients (0.6%) died within 30 days of a positive PCR test, compared to 18,773 (0.2%) in the general population. 

The study concluded that patients with IEI had a 3-4 times higher risk of hospitalization and a 5 times higher risk of intensive care during COVID-19 compared to the general population. 

Source: jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(24)01125-4/fulltext