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. 2023 Jan 24:11:1047391.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1047391. eCollection 2023.

Risk of peripheral facial palsy following parenteral inactivated influenza vaccination in the elderly Chinese population

Tianchi Yang  1 , Rui Ma  1 , Lixia Ye  1 , Qiuhong Mei  1 , Jianmei Wang  1 , Yueyi Feng  1 , Shaoying Zhou  1 , Xingqiang Pan  1 , Danbiao Hu  2 , Dandan Zhang  1
Affiliations

Risk of peripheral facial palsy following parenteral inactivated influenza vaccination in the elderly Chinese population

Tianchi Yang et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Concern about the risk of peripheral facial palsy (PFP) following vaccination is one reason for hesitancy in influenza vaccination. However, the association between the flu vaccine and PFP is still controversial, and further evidence is urgently needed.

Methods: This self-controlled case series study evaluated PFP risk following inactivated influenza vaccine in the elderly using a large linked database in Ningbo, China. Relative incidence ratios (RIRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) estimated using conditional Poisson regression were utilized to determine whether the risk of PFP was increased after vaccination.

Results: This study included 467 episodes, which occurred in 244 females and 220 males. One hundred twenty-four episodes happened within 1-91 days after vaccination, accounting for 26.7%. The adjusted RIRs within 1-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-91 days, and 1-91 days after influenza vaccination were 0.95 (95% CI 0.69-1.30), 1.08 (95% CI 0.78-1.49), 1.01 (95% CI 0.70-1.45), and 1.00 (95% CI 0.81-1.24), respectively. Similar results were found in subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses.

Conclusions: Influenza vaccination does not increase PFP risk in the elderly population. This finding provides evidence to overcome concerns about facial paralysis after influenza vaccination.

Keywords: elderly; inactivated influenza vaccination; peripheral facial palsy; relative incidence ratio; self-controlled case series study.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the study participants.
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