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Vaccines and the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome

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Abstract

The role of vaccination in the development of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is controversial, although cases of GBS have been reported following a wide range of vaccines. A nested case–control study was conducted between January 2011 and December 2015 in three Chinese cities. Four controls were matched to a case by gender, age, address and index date. An independent expert committee validated the diagnoses of cases and controls according to the Brighton Collaboration GBS case definition. Data on vaccinations were obtained from computerized vaccination records. Causal relations were assessed by conditional logistic regression. 1056 cases of GBS and 4312 controls were included in the analyses. Among paediatric and adult population, adjusted ORs for GBS occurrence within 180 days following vaccination were 0.94 (95% CI 0.54–1.62) and 1.09 (95% CI 0.88–1.32), respectively. No increased risk of GBS was detected for vaccination against hepatitis B, influenza, hepatitis A, varicella, rabies, polio(live), diphtheria, pertuss(acellular), tetanusis, measles, mumps, rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, and meningitis vaccines. Adjusted ORs for the recurrence of GBS after vaccination among paediatric and adult population were 0.85 (95% CI 0.07–9.50) and 1.18 (95% CI 0.49–2.65), respectively. In this large retrospective study, we did not find evidence of an increased risk of GBS and its recurrence among either paediatric (≤ 18 years) or adult (> 18 years) individuals within the 180 days following vaccinations of any kind, including influenza vaccination.

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly appreciated the fieldwork of the following institutions: Nantong CDC, Yancheng CDC, and Xuzhou CDC.

Funding

This work was supported by Science Project of the Jiangsu Commission of Health [Grant No. H201515] and the Science-Education Project of the Jiangsu Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [Grant No. JKRC2011023].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrated Operations Management Office, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Street Jiangsu, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yong Chen

  2. Department of Expanded Program on Immunization, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Jinlin Zhang & Fubao Ma

  3. Department of Neurology, Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Xuhua Chu

  4. Department of Neurology, Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Yuanling Xu

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  1. Yong Chen
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Contributions

YC, study concept and design, analysis and interpretation of data; JZ, study concept and design, acquisition of data; XC, acquisition of data, interpretation of data; YX, acquisition of data, interpretation of data; FM, study concept and design, study supervision.

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Correspondence to Yong Chen.

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Chen, Y., Zhang, J., Chu, X. et al. Vaccines and the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Eur J Epidemiol 35, 363–370 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-019-00596-1

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