Risk of retinal vein occlusion following COVID-19 vaccination: a self-controlled case series.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the association between COVID-19 vaccination and retinal vein occlusion (RVO). METHODS: This multicentre self-controlled case series included patients with RVO seen in five tertiary referral centres in Italy. All adults who received at least one dose of the BNT162b2, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, mRNA-1273 or Ad26.COV2.S vaccine and had a first diagnosis of RVO between January 01, 2021, and December 31, 2021 were included. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) of RVO were estimated using Poisson regression, comparing rates of events in a 28-day period following each dose of vaccination and in the unexposed control periods. RESULTS: 210 patients were included in the study. No increased risk of RVO was observed after the first dose (1-14 days IRR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.41-1.85; 15-28 days IRR: 1.01, 95% CI: 0.50-2.04; 1-28 days IRR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.55-1.58) and second dose of vaccination (1-14 days IRR: 1.21, 95% CI: 0.62-2.37; 15-28 days IRR: 1.08, 95% CI: 0.53-2.20; 1-28 days IRR: 1.16, 95% CI: 0.70-1.90). No association between RVO and vaccination was found in subgroup analyses by type of vaccine, gender and age. CONCLUSIONS: This self-controlled case series found no evidence of an association between RVO and COVID-19 vaccination.

Uveitis and Other Ocular Complications Following COVID-19 Vaccination.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines can cause transient local and systemic post-vaccination reactions. The aim of this study was to report uveitis and other ocular complications following COVID-19 vaccination. The study included 42 eyes of 34 patients (20 females, 14 males), with a mean age of 49.8 years (range 18-83 years). The cases reported were three herpetic keratitis, two anterior scleritis, five anterior uveitis (AU), three toxoplasma retinochoroiditis, two Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease reactivations, two pars planitis, two retinal vasculitis, one bilateral panuveitis in new-onset Behçet's disease, three multiple evanescent white dot syndromes (MEWDS), one acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMN), five retinal vein occlusions (RVO), one non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), three activations of quiescent choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to myopia or uveitis, and one central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). Mean time between vaccination and ocular complication onset was 9.4 days (range 1-30 days). Twenty-three cases occurred after Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination (BNT162b2 mRNA), 7 after Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19), 3 after ModernaTX vaccination (mRNA-1273), and 1 after Janssen Johnson & Johnson vaccine (Ad26.COV2). Uveitis and other ocular complications may develop after the administration of COVID-19 vaccine.

Transdisciplinary research and clinical priorities for better health.

Modern medicine makes it possible for many people to live with multiple chronic diseases for decades, but this has enormous social, financial, and environmental consequences. Preclinical, epidemiological, and clinical trial data have shown that many of the most common chronic diseases are largely preventable with nutritional and lifestyle interventions that are targeting well-characterized signaling pathways and the symbiotic relationship with our microbiome. Most of the research priorities and spending for health are focused on finding new molecular targets for the development of biotech and pharmaceutical products. Very little is invested in mechanism-based preventive science, medicine, and education. We believe that overly enthusiastic expectations regarding the benefits of pharmacological research for disease treatment have the potential to impact and distort not only medical research and practice but also environmental health and sustainable economic growth. Transitioning from a primarily disease-centered medical system to a balanced preventive and personalized treatment healthcare system is key to reduce social disparities in health and achieve financially sustainable, universal health coverage for all. In this Perspective article, we discuss a range of science-based strategies, policies, and structural reforms to design an entire new disease prevention-centered science, educational, and healthcare system that maximizes both human and environmental health.