¨Abstract
Research on Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) as a neurological adverse effect of vaccines on a global scale is scarce, highlighting the need for further investigation to evaluate its long-term impact and associated risk factors comprehensively. Hence, this study aims to assess the global burden of vaccine-associated GBS and its associated vaccines...
Selection of cases
Vaccine-associated GBS reports documented in VigiBase between 1967 and 2023 were extracted, and the vaccines were categorized into 19 groups: (1) rabies vaccines; (2) yellow fever vaccines; (3) diphtheria, tetanus toxoids, pertussis, polio, and Hemophilus influenza type b (DTaP-IPV-Hib) vaccines; (4) pneumococcal vaccines; (5) meningococcal vaccines; (6) pneumococcal vaccines; (7) tuberculosis vaccines; (8) typhoid vaccines; (9) encephalitis vaccines; (10) hepatitis A (HAV) vaccines; (11) hepatitis B (HBV) vaccines; (12) MMR vaccines; (13) rotavirus diarrhea vaccines; (14) varicella zoster vaccines; (15) papillomavirus vaccines; (16) COVID-19 mRNA vaccines; (17) Ad5-vectored COVID-19 vaccines; (18) Inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccines; (19) others (dengue virus, Ebola, leptospira, respiratory syncytial virus, and smallpox vaccines).
Results
Upon analyzing individual vaccines, influenza, varicella zoster, COVID-19 mRNA, and ad5-vectored COVID-19 vaccines exhibited higher association with the older age group. Inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccines exclusively showed the highest association with the age group between 12 and 17 years.
Conclusion
Our study, utilizing WHO data, observed a notable increase in reports of vaccine-associated GBS during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. Influenza vaccines showed the highest association. In addition, vaccine-associated GBS had a higher association with older age groups. The TTO [time to onset] of vaccine-associated GBS was found to be an average of 5.5 days, occurring within one week. However, vigilant monitoring in high-risk groups identified from individual vaccines is crucial. In conclusion, these findings provide valuable insights into the global burden of vaccine-associated GBS, contributing to the development of safer vaccination protocols.¨
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