Tayebi A, Samimisedeh P, Jafari Afshar E, Mahmoudnia S, Milan N, Ayati A, Madady A, Rastad H. Neuromuscular diseases associated with COVID-19 vaccines: a systematic review and pooled analysis of 258 patients.
BMC Neurol 2023;
23:437. [PMID:
38082244 PMCID:
PMC10712145 DOI:
10.1186/s12883-023-03486-y]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Neuromuscular diseases (NMD) emerged as one of the main side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination. We pooled and summarized the evidence on the clinical features and outcomes of NMD associated with COVID-19 vaccination.
METHODS
We comprehensively searched three databases, Medline, Embase, and Scopus, using the key terms covering "Neuromuscular disease" AND "COVID-19 vaccine", and pooled the individual patient data extracted from the included studies.
RESULTS
A total of 258 NMD cases following COVID-19 have been reported globally, of which 171 cases were Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), 40 Parsonage-Turner syndrome (PTS), 22 Myasthenia Gravis (MG), 19 facial nerve palsy (FNP), 5 single fiber neuropathy, and 1 Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. All (100%) SFN patients and 58% of FNP patients were female; in the remaining NMDs, patients were predominantly male, including MG (82%), GBS (63%), and PTS (62.5%). The median time from vaccine to symptom was less than 2 weeks in all groups. Symptoms mainly appeared following the first dose of vector vaccine, but there was no specific pattern for mRNA-based.
CONCLUSION
COVID-19 vaccines might induce some NMDs, mainly in adults. The age distribution and gender characteristics of affected patients may differ based on the NMD type. About two-thirds of the cases probably occur less than 2 weeks after vaccination.
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