Vaccines (Aug 2022)

Psychological and Psychiatric Events Following Immunization with Five Different Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2

  • Mario García-Alanis,
  • Marisa Morales-Cárdenas,
  • Liz Nicole Toapanta-Yanchapaxi,
  • Erwin Chiquete,
  • Isaac Núñez,
  • Santa Elizabeth Ceballos-Liceaga,
  • Guillermo Carbajal-Sandoval,
  • Carla Toledo-Salinas,
  • David Alejandro Mendoza-Hernández,
  • Selma Cecilia Scheffler-Mendoza,
  • José Antonio Ortega-Martell,
  • Daniel Armando Carrillo-García,
  • Noé Hernández-Valdivia,
  • Alonso Gutiérrez-Romero,
  • Javier Andrés Galnares-Olalde,
  • Fernando Daniel Flores-Silva,
  • José Luis Díaz-Ortega,
  • Gustavo Reyes-Terán,
  • Hugo López-Gatell,
  • Ricardo Cortes-Alcalá,
  • José Rogelio Pérez-Padilla,
  • Antonio Arauz,
  • Miguel García-Grimshaw,
  • Sergio Iván Valdés-Ferrer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10081297
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 8
p. 1297

Abstract

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Background: Despite the high number of vaccines administered against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) worldwide, the information on the psychological/psychiatric adverse events following immunization (AEFI) with these newly developed vaccines remains scarce. Objective: To describe the frequency of psychological/psychiatric symptoms among recipients of five different anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and to explore the factors associated with their development reported in the nationwide Mexican registry of AEFI against SARS-CoV-2. Methods: Descriptive study of all the psychological/psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, and agitation reported to the Mexican Epidemiological Surveillance System from 21 December 2020 to 27 April 2021, among adult (≥18 years old) recipients of 7,812,845 doses of BNT162b2, ChAdOx1 nCov-19, rAd26-rAd5, Ad5-nCoV, or CoronaVac. The factors associated with their development are determined by multivariate regression analysis. Results: There were 19,163 AEFI reports during the study period; amongst them, 191 (1%) patients had psychological/psychiatric symptoms (median age of 41 years, interquartile range of 32–54; 149 [78%] women) for an observed incidence of 2.44 cases per 100,000 administered doses (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.12–2.82), 72.8% of psychiatric AEFIs were reported among recipients of BNT162b2. The median time from vaccination to symptom onset was 35 min (interquartile range: 10–720). Overall, the most common psychological/psychiatric symptoms were anxiety in 129 (67.5%) patients, panic attacks in 30 (15.7%), insomnia in 25 (13%), and agitation in 11 (5.7%). After adjusting for the confounding factors, the odds for developing psychological/psychiatric symptoms were higher for those concurrently reporting syncope (odds ratio [OR]: 4.73, 95% CI: 1.68–13.33); palpitations (OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.65–3.70), and dizziness (OR: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.10–2.28). Conclusion: In our population, psychological/psychiatric symptoms were extremely infrequent AEFIs. No severe psychiatric AEFIs were reported. Immunization stress-related responses might explain most of the detected cases.

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