Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2021 Sep:208:106887.
doi: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2021.106887. Epub 2021 Aug 13.

Guillain-Barré syndrome after AstraZeneca COVID-19-vaccination: A causal or casual association?

Alessandro Introna  1 , Francesca Caputo  2 , Carlo Santoro  2 , Tommaso Guerra  2 , Maria Ucci  2 , Domenico Maria Mezzapesa  2 , Maria Trojano  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Guillain-Barré syndrome after AstraZeneca COVID-19-vaccination: A causal or casual association?

Alessandro Introna et al. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

We report a case of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following the first dose of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine with papilledema as atypical onset. As the COVID-19 vaccination campaign progresses worldwide, GBSs vaccine-related have been increasingly reported. After reviewing the available literature, considering the annual incidence of GBS, in this historical moment, the public health systems cannot afford an unjustified distrust in vaccines, caused by misinterpretation of epidemiological data. Nonetheless, it is important for clinicians to promptly recognize neurological complications potentially associated with COVID-19 vaccinations and report them to pharmacovigilance agencies.

Keywords: AstraZeneca; COVID-19; Guillain-Barré syndrome; Vaccine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Nothing to report.

Comment in

References

    1. Leonhard S.E., Mandarakas M.R., Gondim F.A.A., Bateman K., Ferreira M.L.B., Cornblath D.R., van Doorn P.A., Dourado M.E., Hughes R.A.C., Islam B., Kusunoki S., Pardo C.A., Reisin R., Sejvar J.J., Shahrizaila N., Soares C., Umapathi T., Wang Y., Yiu E.M., Willison H.J., Jacobs B.C. Diagnosis and management of Guillain-Barré syndrome in ten steps. Nat. Rev. Neurol. 2019;15(11):671–683. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Waheed S., Bayas A., Hindi F., Rizvi Z., Espinosa P.S. Neurological complications of COVID-19: Guillain-Barre syndrome following Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Cureus. 2021;13(2) Published 2021 Feb 18. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Márquez Loza Alejandra M., Holroyd Kathryn B., Johnson Stephen A., Pilgrim David M., Amato Anthony A. Guillain- Barré syndrome in the placebo and active arms of a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial: temporal associations do not imply causality. Neurology. 2021;10 - PubMed
    1. Maramattom B.V., Krishnan P., Paul R., Padmanabhan S., Cherukudal Vishnu Nampoothiri S., Syed A.A., Mangat H.S. Guillain-Barré syndrome following ChAdOx1-S/nCoV-19 vaccine. Ann. Neurol. 2021 10;90:312–314. doi: 10.1002/ana.26143. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allen C.M., Ramsamy S., Tarr A.W., Tighe P.J., Irving W.L., Tanasescu R., Evans J.R. Guillain-Barré syndrome variant occurring after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Ann. Neurol. 2021 10;90:315–318. - PubMed

Publication types