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Facial paralysis and vaccinations: a vaccine adverse event reporting system review.
Ahsanuddin, Salma; Nasser, Wissam; Roy, Savannah C; Povolotskiy, Roman; Paskhover, Boris.
  • Ahsanuddin S; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
  • Nasser W; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
  • Roy SC; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
  • Povolotskiy R; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
  • Paskhover B; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
Fam Pract ; 39(1): 80-84, 2022 01 19.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1286563
ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:

Vaccinations are a cornerstone of preventative medicine in the USA. However, growing concerns regarding facial nerve palsy following vaccination exist.

OBJECTIVE:

This study aims to assess the occurrence of facial palsy as reported by the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database.

METHODS:

A retrospective analysis of the VAERS database was performed for cases of 'Facial Palsy', 'Bell's Palsy', 'Facial Paralysis' and 'Ramsay Hunt Syndrome' between 2009 and 2018. Subgroup analysis was performed to determine gender, age, history of facial palsy, type of vaccine used, number of days until onset of symptoms and overall facial palsy rate.

RESULTS:

Nine hundred and forty-four entries met our inclusion criteria with 961 vaccine administrations resulting in facial paralysis. Facial palsy following vaccinations was evenly distributed across all age cohorts with two peaks between 60 and 74 years old and between 0 and 14 years old. Most patients were female (N = 526, 55.7%) without a reported history of facial palsy (N = 923, 97.8%). In 2009, reported incidence rate was 0.53%, as compared with 0.23% in 2018. The influenza vaccine had the greatest number of cases (N = 166, 17.3%), followed by the varicella (N = 87, 9.1%) and human papillomavirus vaccines (N = 47, 4.9%).

CONCLUSIONS:

With the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and recent approvals of the vaccinations, there is growing concern of facial palsy following vaccination. Although it is a known adverse event following vaccination, the likelihood of facial palsy following vaccination is low, with only 0.26% of overall reported cases over a 10-year span.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Influenza Vaccines / Bell Palsy / Facial Paralysis / COVID-19 Type of study: Cohort study / Observational study / Prognostic study Topics: Vaccines Limits: Child, preschool / Female / Humans Language: English Journal: Fam Pract Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Fampra

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Influenza Vaccines / Bell Palsy / Facial Paralysis / COVID-19 Type of study: Cohort study / Observational study / Prognostic study Topics: Vaccines Limits: Child, preschool / Female / Humans Language: English Journal: Fam Pract Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Fampra