Research letter
"Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy with a ≈5% mortality rate, has an incidence worldwide of 0.81–1.91 cases/100,000 person-years. GBS has been reported to be associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination, but a comprehensive summary regarding this rare adverse event is still lacking. To determine clinical features of GBS associated with COVID-19 vaccination, we conducted hospital-based investigations in Taiwan along with a systematic review of published case reports...
We analyzed electronic medical records data from Taiwan’s largest multi-institutional healthcare system... where healthcare workers received first-priority COVID-19 ChAdOx1-S vaccine... We included healthcare workers vaccinated during March 22–May 31 and followed them for 30 days after vaccination. We identified GBS cases on the basis of code G610 from the International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification, or spontaneous adverse drug reaction reporting systems within the hospitals...
Similar to previous reviews on GBS associated with COVID-19, we found that both COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccination mostly cause the classic form of GBS (under the clinical diagnosis classification) and the acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy subtype... within 2 weeks of infection or vaccination. However, the bilateral facial palsy with paresthesia variant and initial onset symptoms of facial diplegia were more frequently found in GBS case-patients after COVID-19 vaccination."
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