TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative risk of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) following COVID-19 vaccination or infection: A national cohort study using linked electronic health records
AU - Ohaeri, Columbus
AU - Thomas, Daniel Rhys
AU - Salmon, Jane
AU - Cottrell, Simon
AU - Lyons, Jane
AU - Akbari, Ashley
AU - Lyons, Ronan A
AU - Torabi, Fatemeh
AU - Davies, Gareth GI
AU - Williams, Christopher
PY - 2022/11/30
Y1 - 2022/11/30
N2 - To inform the public and policy makers, we investigated and compared the risk of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) after SARS-Cov-2 vaccination or infection using a national cohort of 2,643,699 individuals aged 17 y and above, alive, and resident in Wales on 1 January 2020 followed up through multiple linked data sources until 28 March 2021. Exposures were first dose of Oxford-ChAdOx1 or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed SARS-Cov-2 infection. The outcome was an incident record of CVST. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using multivariable Cox regression, adjusted for confounders. HR from SARS-Cov-2 infection was compared with that for SARS-Cov-2 vaccination. We identified 910,556 (34.4%) records of first SARS-Cov-2 vaccination and 165,862 (6.3%) of SARS-Cov-2 infection. A total of 1,372 CVST events were recorded during the study period, of which 52 (3.8%) and 48 (3.5%) occurred within 28 d after vaccination and infection, respectively. We observed slight non-significant risk of CVST within 28 d of vaccination [aHR: 1.34, 95% CI: 0.95-1.90], which remained after stratifying by vaccine [BNT162b2, aHR: 1.18 (95% CI: 0.63-2.21); ChAdOx1, aHR: 1.40 (95% CI: 0.95-2.05)]. Three times the number of CVST events is observed within 28 d of a positive SARS-Cov-2 test [aHR: 3.02 (95% CI: 2.17-4.21)]. The risk of CVST following SARS-Cov-2 infection is 2.3 times that following SARS-Cov-2 vaccine. This is important information both for those designing COVID-19 vaccination programs and for individuals making their own informed decisions on the risk-benefit of vaccination. This record-linkage approach will be useful in monitoring the safety of future vaccine programs.
AB - To inform the public and policy makers, we investigated and compared the risk of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) after SARS-Cov-2 vaccination or infection using a national cohort of 2,643,699 individuals aged 17 y and above, alive, and resident in Wales on 1 January 2020 followed up through multiple linked data sources until 28 March 2021. Exposures were first dose of Oxford-ChAdOx1 or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed SARS-Cov-2 infection. The outcome was an incident record of CVST. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated using multivariable Cox regression, adjusted for confounders. HR from SARS-Cov-2 infection was compared with that for SARS-Cov-2 vaccination. We identified 910,556 (34.4%) records of first SARS-Cov-2 vaccination and 165,862 (6.3%) of SARS-Cov-2 infection. A total of 1,372 CVST events were recorded during the study period, of which 52 (3.8%) and 48 (3.5%) occurred within 28 d after vaccination and infection, respectively. We observed slight non-significant risk of CVST within 28 d of vaccination [aHR: 1.34, 95% CI: 0.95-1.90], which remained after stratifying by vaccine [BNT162b2, aHR: 1.18 (95% CI: 0.63-2.21); ChAdOx1, aHR: 1.40 (95% CI: 0.95-2.05)]. Three times the number of CVST events is observed within 28 d of a positive SARS-Cov-2 test [aHR: 3.02 (95% CI: 2.17-4.21)]. The risk of CVST following SARS-Cov-2 infection is 2.3 times that following SARS-Cov-2 vaccine. This is important information both for those designing COVID-19 vaccination programs and for individuals making their own informed decisions on the risk-benefit of vaccination. This record-linkage approach will be useful in monitoring the safety of future vaccine programs.
U2 - 10.1080/21645515.2022.2127572
DO - 10.1080/21645515.2022.2127572
M3 - Article
SN - 2164-5515
VL - 18
JO - Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics
JF - Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics
IS - 6
ER -