SOCIALLY VULNERABLE PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE ARE AT INCREASED RISK FOR VACCINE PREVENTABLE ILLNESS

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affects patients across diverse ethnic, minority, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds; however, the relationship between these social determinants of health (SDOH) and IBD outcomes is not well-studied. SDOH have a known impact on disparities in vaccination, but these effects may be more salient in the IBD population where patients are at greater risk for vaccine-preventable illness from immunosuppressive therapies. The social vulnerability index (SVI) is a tool provided by Centers for Disease Control that can identify individuals at risk for health care disparities by estimating neighborhood-level social need on a 0-1 scale (higher scores indicating greater social vulnerability). Utilizing census tract-level SVI data, we aimed to identify the relationship between the SDOH and vaccination rates in patients with IBD.