Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37318764›Full record

ArticleEuro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin2023

Rare cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome after COVID-19 vaccination, Germany, December 2020 to August 2021.

Helmar C Lehmann, Doris Oberle, Brigitte Keller-Stanislawski, Thorsten Rieck, Renz Streit

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Helmar C LehmannDepartment of Neurology, Klinikum Leverkusen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Doris OberleDivision of Safety of Biomedicines and Diagnostics, Paul-Ehrlich Institute, Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, Langen, Germany.
Brigitte Keller-StanislawskiDivision of Safety of Biomedicines and Diagnostics, Paul-Ehrlich Institute, Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, Langen, Germany.
Thorsten RieckRobert Koch Institute, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Berlin, Germany.
Renz StreitDivision of Safety of Biomedicines and Diagnostics, Paul-Ehrlich Institute, Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines, Langen, Germany.
Paul Ehrlich Institut · DERobert Koch Institute · DEUniversity of Cologne · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BackgroundGuillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) has been associated with vaccination against COVID-19.AimWe aimed to compare clinical characteristics and analyse excess GBS cases following administration of different COVID-19 and influenza vaccines in Germany versus the expected numbers estimated from pre-pandemic background incidence rates.MethodsWe analysed safety surveillance data reported to the German national competent authority between 27 December 2020 and 31 August 2021. GBS cases were validated according to Brighton Collaboration (BC) criteria. We conducted observed vs expected (OvE) analyses on cases fulfilling BC criteria levels 1 to 4 for all four European Medicines Agency-approved COVID-19 vaccines and for influenza vaccines.ResultsA total of 214 GBS cases after COVID-19 vaccination had been reported, of whom 156 were eligible for further analysis. Standardised morbidity ratio estimates 3-42 days after vaccination were 0.34 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.25-0.44) for Comirnaty, 0.38 (95% CI: 0.15-0.79) for Spikevax, 3.10 (95% CI: 2.44-3.88) for Vaxzevria, 4.16 (95% CI: 2.64-6.24) for COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen and 0.60 (95% CI: 0.35-0.94) for influenza vaccines. Bilateral facial paresis was reported in 19.7% and 26.1% of the 156 GBS cases following vaccination with Vaxzevria and COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen, respectively, and only in 6% of cases exposed to Comirnaty.ConclusionThree and four times more GBS cases than expected were reported after vaccination with Vaxzevria and COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen, respectively, therefore GBS might be an adverse event of vector-based vaccines. Bifacial paresis was more common in cases with GBS following vaccination with vector-based than mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Indexed as

COVID-19Guillain-Barre SyndromeInfluenza, HumanInfluenza VaccinesBNT162 VaccineChAdOx1 nCoV-19COVID-19 VaccinesGermanyHumansVaccinationBNT162 VaccineChAdOx1 nCoV-19COVID-19 VaccinesInfluenza Vaccinesadverse effectCOVID-19facial paresisGuillain-Barré syndromeneuritisvaccination

Identifiers

PMID37318764
PMCPMC10318936
OpenAlexW4380730386

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.