Bell’s palsy following COVID-19 vaccination: a case report

Caro, G Gómez de Terreros; Diaz, Sonja; Alé, Manuel Pérez; Gimeno, M L Martínez

doi:10.1016/j.nrleng.2021.04.002

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Reference [14] and [15] reported cases with a similar presentation to ours following the administration of the same vaccine and that was treated with corticosteroids with good evolution.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Rare Presentation of A Unilateral Bell’s Palsy Following mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

Benhoummad

Rochd

Yafi

et al. 2022

EJMED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bell’s palsy is defined by an acute peripheral facial palsy of unknown cause. It was rarely reported in clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines. We report the case of a healthy 26-years-old male patient who presented an acute onset of a left Bell’s palsy 6 days after the administration of the first dose of COVID-19 BNT16b2 mRNA vaccine. The clinical examination found grade III left facial palsy with no other signs, with normal audiometry, impedancemetry, and Schirmer test. The patient was treated with corticosteroids and ocular protection. After a follow-up of 3 weeks, there was a regression of the facial palsy after the treatment. Bell’s palsy following the administration of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is a rare adverse event described in the literature. Two similar cases to ours were described and adopted the same conduct with did with good results. Studies showed that there was a significantly higher incidence of Bell’s palsy following the administration of the vaccine compared to the general population. A better knowledge of these adverse events (AEs) will help monitor patients with this presentation. More studies could be needed to have an assessment of the incidence of these AEs and confirm the findings of certain studies.

show abstract

“…Reference [14] and [15] reported cases with a similar presentation to ours following the administration of the same vaccine and that was treated with corticosteroids with good evolution.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Rare Presentation of A Unilateral Bell’s Palsy Following mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

Benhoummad

Rochd

Yafi

et al. 2022

EJMED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Bell’s palsy after vaccination responds well to oral corticosteroids in adults; however, the evidence in children remains controversial [ 43 , 44 , 45 ]. The prognosis is good, with a return to normal function within weeks to months [ 42 , 46 , 47 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safety after BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm) COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents Aged 10–17 Years in Thailand

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Coronavirus disease 2019 affected child health and impacted learning because of the resulting onsite school closures. This prospective cohort study included children aged 10–17 who received two 4 µg doses of BBIBP-CorV administered intramuscularly 21–28 days apart. To assess vaccine safety, 36,808 participants were then followed with paper- and web-based online questionnaire surveys that captured local and systemic reactogenicities following vaccine administration on days 1, 7, and 30. Among participants, 76% (27,880) reported reactogenicity within the first 24 h and 7 days following the first dose. Half (51.41%) of participants experienced pain at the injection site; the majority of cases were mild in severity. Injection site tenderness (37.93%) was another common local reaction. Fatigue (37.89%), myalgia (33.56%), and headache (26.76%) were the most common systemic reactions. On days 2–7 after the first dose, 25.85% of participants experienced adverse reactions. Following the second dose, reactogenicity was 7.6% and 1.09% within 24 h and between days 2–7. The majority of reactions were of mild to moderate severity. We report that two doses of the BBIBP-CorV caused mild to moderate side effects in adolescents in Thailand. The findings confirm the vaccine’s safety profile in this age group.

show abstract

“…Furthermore, O/E ratios were high for the age groups 25-64, regarding females receiving Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca and males receiving Janssen. Whereas an Israeli study described high numbers of reports in particularly older age groups (45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55)(56)(57)(58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63)(64) and ≥65 years), 41 the absolute number of received reports as well as…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Multiple case studies indicating a potential causal relationship between Bell's palsy and COVID‐19 vaccines have been reported, mainly concerning the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines 50–57 . Furthermore, a case report regarding the Janssen vaccine has been published 58 .…”

Section: Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observed‐over‐Expected analysis as additional method for pharmacovigilance signal detection in large‐scaled spontaneous adverse event reporting

Boom

Eekeren

Hunsel

2023

Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The large‐scale COVID‐19 vaccination campaigns in 2021 and 2022 led to a rapid increase in numbers of received adverse event reports in spontaneous reporting systems. As background incidences of naturally occurring medical events became increasingly relevant for causality assessment of potential associations with the vaccines, a novel approach for signal detection was warranted. Objectives This article illustrates the Observed‐over‐Expected (O/E) analysis as an additional method for signal detection and risk assessment in large‐scaled spontaneous reporting systems. Methods All individual case safety reports (ICSRs) concerning idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis or Bell's palsy following administration of the COVID‐19 vaccines (n = 291) manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty), Moderna (Spikevax), AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria) and Janssen (JCOVDEN) received by the National Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb until 24th March 2022 were included in the O/E analysis, within a risk window of 7 and 14 days following immunisation. Dutch background incidence rates from 2019 and exposure of the Dutch population to the vaccines were obtained from the PHARMO institute and RIVM. The data was stratified in age groups, gender and administered dose in order to differentiate between population subgroups. Results Bell's palsy was reported more frequently than expected in several population subgroups following administration of all four COVID‐19 vaccines, including children and adolescents. Among children, a high O/E ratio was found for boys aged 5–14 years after receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Regarding adolescents and young adults, women aged 15–24 years receiving Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, and men aged 15–24 years receiving Janssen developed Bell's palsy more often than expected. Furthermore, O/E ratios were high for individuals aged 25–64, regarding females receiving Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca and males receiving Janssen. As facial paralysis was not labelled as an adverse event for the Janssen vaccine, this analysis contributed to signalling the association and warranting further regulatory action. Conclusions The O/E method is a useful approach for signal detection of potential adverse reactions when handling large numbers of ICSRs. Further research is needed to attest to the causality on a clinical basis.

show abstract

Bell’s palsy following COVID-19 vaccination: a case report

Cited by 13 publications

References 2 publications

Rare Presentation of A Unilateral Bell’s Palsy Following mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

Rare Presentation of A Unilateral Bell’s Palsy Following mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

Safety after BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm) COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents Aged 10–17 Years in Thailand

Observed‐over‐Expected analysis as additional method for pharmacovigilance signal detection in large‐scaled spontaneous adverse event reporting

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About