Neuromuscular Diseases Associated With Covid-19 Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Pooled Analysis of 258 Patients Publisher Pubmed



Tayebi A¹ ; Samimisedeh P¹ ; Jafari Afshar E¹ ; Mahmoudnia S² ; Milan N³ ; Ayati A⁴ ; Madady A² ; Rastad H¹
Source: BMC Neurology Published:2023

Abstract

Background: Neuromuscular diseases (NMD) emerged as one of the main side effects of the COVID-19 vaccination. We pooled and summarized the evidence on the clinical features and outcomes of NMD associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: We comprehensively searched three databases, Medline, Embase, and Scopus, using the key terms covering “Neuromuscular disease” AND “COVID-19 vaccine”, and pooled the individual patient data extracted from the included studies. Results: A total of 258 NMD cases following COVID-19 have been reported globally, of which 171 cases were Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), 40 Parsonage-Turner syndrome (PTS), 22 Myasthenia Gravis (MG), 19 facial nerve palsy (FNP), 5 single fiber neuropathy, and 1 Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. All (100%) SFN patients and 58% of FNP patients were female; in the remaining NMDs, patients were predominantly male, including MG (82%), GBS (63%), and PTS (62.5%). The median time from vaccine to symptom was less than 2 weeks in all groups. Symptoms mainly appeared following the first dose of vector vaccine, but there was no specific pattern for mRNA-based. Conclusion: COVID-19 vaccines might induce some NMDs, mainly in adults. The age distribution and gender characteristics of affected patients may differ based on the NMD type. About two-thirds of the cases probably occur less than 2 weeks after vaccination. © 2023, The Author(s).