Analysis of patients visiting emergency departments with adverse reactions after COVID-19 vaccination: a multicenter retrospective study

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea
²Department of Emergency Medicine, Yeungnam University College of Medicine, Daegu, Korea
³Department of Emergency Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea
⁴Department of Emergency Medicine, Dongsan Medical Center, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea

Correspondence

Dong Eun Lee ,Tel: 053-200-2812, Fax: 053-200-3870, Email: delee@knu.ac.kr,

Received: March 10, 2023; Revised: July 10, 2023 Accepted: August 16, 2023. Published online: February 28, 2024.

ABSTRACT

Objective:
This study aimed to analyze types and rates of symptoms according to vaccine type and to identify the characteristics of patients who visited emergency departments (EDs) with adverse reactions after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination.
Method:
The medical records of 1,020 patients who visited the EDs of five participating tertiary hospitals from February 26, 2021 to July 31, 2021, and reported adverse reactions after vaccination with a COVID-19 vaccine to the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency or diagnosed with a disease code U129 at time of ED discharge were retrospectively analyzed. Symptoms, examinations, treatments received at EDs, and hospital outcomes were compared with respect to vaccine type.
Results:
Of the 1,020 study subjects, 559 received the ChAdOx1-S vaccine, 52 the Ad.26.COV2.S vaccine, 331 the BNT162b2 vaccine, and 77 the mRNA-1273 vaccine. The adenovirus-vectored vaccines (ChAdOx1-S and Ad.26.COV2.S) had the highest myalgia and headache complaint rates during the 24 hours following vaccination. However, the mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273) had the highest chest pain and fever complaint rates at 7 days post-vaccination. Furthermore, 4.7% of the study subjects required hospitalization, and three died during hospitalization.
Conclusion:
Patients who visited EDs with adverse reactions after COVID-19 vaccination had various ages and experienced symptoms that depended on vaccine type. Most patients were discharged following ED symptom management, but caution should be exercised as several patients experienced potentially serious adverse events.

Key words: COVID-19 vaccines; Vaccination; Drug-related side effects and adverse reactions