ReviewAutoimmunity reviews2023
Increased incidence of giant cell arteritis and associated stroke during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: A nation-wide population study.
Review in Autoimmunity reviews, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- COVID-19-associated large-vessel vasculitis with elevated anti-angiotensin converting enzyme 2 antibody: three cases and a review of the literature.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Review
- Post-COVID-19 Femoral Head Osteonecrosis Exhibits Mast Cell Clusters, Fibrosis, and Vascular Thrombosis: Key Pathological Mechanisms in Long COVID-19 Bone Degeneration.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2025Article
- Global, regional, and national characteristics of the main causes of increased disease burden due to the covid-19 pandemic: time-series modelling analysis of global burden of disease study 2021.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Article
- Hospitalisations With Cryoglobulin-Related Diseases in Spain Over 25 Years.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2025Article
- Cardiovascular Sequelae of the COVID-19 Vaccines.Cureus · 2025Review
- The Set up and the Triggers: An Update on the Risk Factors for Giant Cell Arteritis.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2024Review
- Higher mortality risk from gynaecological neoplasms and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: an observational study from the Spanish National Registry.Lupus science & medicine · 2024Observational
- The incidence of vasculitides in Israel from 2007 to 2021 and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2024Article
- Influenza A infection as a potential trigger of giant cell arteritis: A case report.SAGE open medical case reports · 2024Article
- Giant Cell Arteritis after COVID-19 Vaccination with Long-Term Follow-Up: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionSARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccines might have increased the incidence of giant-cell arteritis (GCA) and the risk of associated stroke in Spain.
methodsRetrospective nation-wide observational analysis of all adults hospitalized with GCA in Spain during 5 years (Jan-2016 and Dec-2021). The incidence and proportion of admissions with or because of GCA and GCA-associated stroke were compared between pre-pandemic (2016-2019) and pandemic (2020 and 2021) years. Sensitivity analyses were conducted for the different COVID-19 waves and vaccine timing schedules.
resultsA total of 17,268 hospital admissions in patients diagnosed with GCA were identified. During 2020 there were 79.3 and 8.1 per 100,000 admissions of GCA and GCA-associated stroke, respectively. During 2021 these figures were 80.8 and 7.7 per 100,00 admissions, respectively. As comparison, yearly admissions due to GCA and GCA-associated stroke were 72.4 and 5.7 per 100,00, respectively, during the pre-pandemic period (p < 0.05). Coincident with the third wave of COVID-19 (and first vaccine dosing), the rate of GCA-associated stroke admissions increased significantly (from 6.7 to 12%; p < 0.001). Likewise, there was an increase in GCA-associated stroke (6.6% vs 4.1%, p = 0.016) coincident with the third dose vaccination (booster) in patients older than 70 at the end of 2021. In multivariate analysis, only patients admitted during the third COVID-19 wave (and first vaccine dosing) (OR = 1.89, 95% CI 1.22-2.93), and during the third vaccination dosing in patients older than 70 (booster) (OR = 1.66, CI 1.11-2.49), presented a higher GCA-associated stroke risk than the same months of previous years after adjustment by age, sex, classical cardiovascular risk factors and COVID-19 diagnosis.
conclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic led to an increased incidence of GCA during 2020 and 2021. Moreover, the risk of associated stroke significantly risen accompanying times of COVID-19 vaccine dosing, hypothetically linked to an increased thrombotic risk of mRNA-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Hence, forthcoming vaccine policies and indications must weigh the risk of severe COVID-19 with the risk of flare or stroke in patients with GCA.
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