Vaccination recommendations for patients with neuromuscular disease

Neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) encompass a broad spectrum of conditions. Because infections may be relevant to the final prognosis of most NMDs, vaccination appears to be the simplest and most effective solution for protecting NMD patients from vaccine-preventable infections. However, very few studies have evaluated the immunogenicity, safety, tolerability, and efficacy of different vaccines in NMD patients; therefore, detailed vaccination recommendations for NMD patients are not available. Here, we present vaccination recommendations from a group of Italian Scientific Societies for optimal disease prevention in NMD patients that maintain high safety levels. We found that NMD patients can be classified into two groups according to immune function: patients with normal immunity and patients who are immunocompromised, including those who intermittently or continuously take immunosuppressive therapy. Patients with normal immunity and do not take immunosuppressive therapy can be vaccinated as healthy subjects. In contrast, immunocompromised patients, including those who take immunosuppressive therapy, should receive all inactivated vaccines as well as influenza and pneumococcal vaccines; these patients should not be administered live attenuated vaccines. In all cases, the efficacy and long-term persistence of immunity from vaccination in NMD patients can be lower than in normal subjects. Household contacts of immunocompromised NMD patients should also be vaccinated appropriately.