Evaluation of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome subsequently COVID‐19 vaccinations: A retrospective cohort study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate development of side effects, thrombotic or obstetric complications in our antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) patient group, after vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). A cohort was formed from patients who have previously been followed up with a diagnosis of APS. The patients of the cohort were evaluated retrospectively to find out if they were vaccinated with CoronaVac and/or BNT162b2 vaccines which are being used in our country. To evaluate the side effects seen after the vaccination, the information was collected by the patients in their outpatient appointments or making a phone call. Thirty‐five APS patients who had received at least 1 dose of any of the COVID‐19 vaccines were included in the study. Median (min–max) number of vaccine doses per patient was 2 (1–3). Eleven patients had a booster dose after primary vaccination. Twenty patients were ever vaccinated with BNT162b2 and 18 with CoronaVac. Among BNT162b2 recipients, 9 (45.0%) and among CoronaVac recipients 15 (42.9%) reported an adverse event after a vaccine administration. The most common adverse events were myalgia and malaise after any dose of both vaccines. No vaccine‐related new thrombotic events or APS flares were observed. Our results were comparable with those reported in the literature. Comprehensive large‐scale studies are needed for more accurate results on the evaluation of side effects after COVID‐19 vaccination in APS patients.

SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccination appears to be safe in antiphospholipid antibody syndrome: Comment on evaluation of patients with antiphospholipid syndrome subsequently COVID‐19 vaccinations

“…In the present study, no thrombotic events or flares of APS were observed in any of the 35 patients with APS included in the study up to 3 months of follow up who had received mRNA or inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine. 1 A limitation of this study was that only about one-half of the cohort of APS patients followed up at this center could be contacted for this study. Therefore, selection bias or survivorship bias cannot be excluded.…”

“…The identified studies are summarized in Table 1. 1,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Six studies assessed the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in more than 1300 patients with APS. Most of these studies did not report any thrombotic events or any increase in the titers or prevalence of APLs in APS patients following COVID-19 vaccination.…”

“…We read with interest the recent article by Karakas et al 1 that assessed the safety of vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with primary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS). Vaccination for COVID-19 has been associated with thrombotic events.…”

“…Most of these studies did not report any thrombotic events or any increase in the titers or prevalence of APLs in APS patients following COVID-19 vaccination. 1,[4][5][6][7][8] A large cohort study from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA, identified no significant differences in the risk of venous thrombosis in the 3 months following COVID-19 vaccination when compared with the 3 months preceding vaccination. 7 Four studies assessed the prevalence of APLs in healthy individuals following COVID-19 vaccination.…”

COVID‐19 vaccine triggers autoimmune disease? Possible mechanism and current evidence

“…At the same time, consideration should also be given to the role played by SARS-CoV-2 when evaluating the association between COVID-19 vaccines and the development of new-onset autoimmune diseases. [21][22][23]…”