ArticleRheumatology (Oxford, England)2023
Is vaccination against COVID-19 associated with autoimmune rheumatic disease flare? A self-controlled case series analysis.
Article in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis and COVID-19 at the Intersection of Immunology and Infectious Diseases: A Related PRISMA Systematic Literature Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Risk of flare or relapse in patients with immune-mediated diseases following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of medical research · 2024Pooled it
- Vaccination considerations in autoimmune rheumatic diseases.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Review
- Article
- Low vaccination uptake and attitudes towards COVID-19, influenza, and Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccines: a cross-sectional survey of patients with rheumatic diseases.Rheumatology international · 2025Article
- Association of COVID-19 vaccinations with osteoarthritis flares: A case-crossover study.Osteoarthritis and cartilage · 2025Article
- Uptake and safety of pneumococcal vaccination in adults with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: a UK wide observational study.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2025Observational
- Musculoskeletal diseases, infections and vaccines: state of the art, research perspectives and educational needs.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Review
- Flares of Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease Following Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination: A Narrative Review.Rheumatic diseases clinics of North America · 2025Review
- Association of COVID-19 Vaccinations With Flares of Systemic Rheumatic Disease: A Case-Crossover Study.Arthritis care & research · 2024Article
- COVID-19 prophylaxis, diagnostics, and treatment in patients with rheumatic diseases. The Polish experts panel opinion.Reumatologia · 2024Article
- Article
- Vaccination in the Era of Immunosuppression.Vaccines · 2023Review
- Molecular Mimicry and HLA Polymorphisms May Drive Autoimmunity in Recipients of the BNT-162b2 mRNA Vaccine: A Computational Analysis.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine on arthritis condition in rheumatoid arthritis.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate the association between vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and autoimmune rheumatic disease (AIRD) flare. MATERIAL AND
methodsPatients with AIRDs vaccinated against COVID-19 who consulted for disease flare between 1 December 2020 and 31 December 2021 were ascertained in Clinical Practice Research Datalink (Aurum). AIRD flare was defined as consultation for AIRD with CS prescription on the same day or the next day. Vaccination was defined using date of vaccination and product code. The observation period was partitioned into vaccine-exposed (21 days after vaccination), pre-vaccination (7 days before vaccination) and remaining vaccine-unexposed periods. Participants contributed data with multiple vaccinations and outcomes. Season adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRR) and 95% CI were calculated using self-controlled case series analysis.
resultsData for 3554 AIRD cases, 72% female, mean age 65 years and 68.3% with RA, were included. COVID-19 vaccination was associated with significantly fewer AIRD flares in the 21-day vaccine-exposed period when all vaccinations were considered [aIRR (95% CI) 0.89 (0.80, 0.98)]. Using dose-stratified analyses there was a statistically significant negative association in the 21 days after first COVID-19 vaccination but no association after the second or third COVID-19 vaccinations [aIRR (95% CI) 0.76 (0.66, 0.89), 0.94 (0.79, 1.11) and 1.01 (0.85, 1.20), respectively]. On AIRD-type stratified analyses, vaccination was not associated with disease flares. Vaccination without or after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, and with vectored DNA or mRNA vaccines, associated with comparable reduced risk of AIRD flares in the vaccine-exposed period after first COVID-19 vaccination.
conclusionsVaccination against COVID-19 was not associated with increased AIRD flares regardless of prior COVID-19, AIRD type, and whether mRNA or DNA vaccination technology were used.
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