Retinal vascular occlusion after COVID-19 vaccination: more coincidence than causal relationship? Data from a retrospective multicentre study
Creators: name: Feltgen, Nicolas
name: Ach, Thomas
name: Ziemssen, Focke
name: Quante, Carolin Sophie
name: Gross, Oliver
name: Abdin, Alaa Din
name: Aisenbrey, Sabine
name: Bartram, Martin C.
name: Blum, Marcus
name: Brockmann, Claudia
name: Dithmar, Stefan
name: Friedrichs, Wilko
name: Guthoff, Rainer
name: Hattenbach, Lars-Olof
name: Herrlinger, Klaus R.
name: Kaskel-Paul, Susanne
name: Khoramnia, Ramin
name: Klaas, Julian E.
name: Krohne, Tim U.
name: Lommatzsch, Albrecht
name: Lueken, Sabine
name: Maier, Mathias
name: Nassri, Lina
name: Nguyen-Dang, Thien A.
name: Radeck, Viola
name: Rau, Saskia
name: Roider, Johann
name: Sandner, Dirk
name: Schmalenberger, Laura
name: Schmidtmann, Irene
name: Schubert, Florian
name: Siegel, Helena
name: Spitzer, Martin S.
name: Stahl, Andreas
name: Stingl, Julia V.
name: Treumer, Felix
name: Viestenz, Arne
name: Wachtlin, Joachim
name: Wolf, Armin
name: Zimmermann, Julian
name: Schargus, Marc
name: Schuster, Alexander K.
Publisher: name: Universität Ulm
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: retinal vein occlusion
subject: retinal artery occlusion
subject: anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy
subject: infection
subject: vaccination
subject: SARS-CoV-2
subject: DDC 610 / Medicine &amp; health
subject: COVID-19 vaccines; Adverse effects
subject: Retinal vein occlusion
subject: Optic neuropathy, Ischemic
subject: Risk assessment
subject: COVID-19
subject: Impfung
subject: Auge
subject: Arterienverschluss

description: Background: To investigate whether vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is associated with the onset of retinal vascular occlusive disease (RVOD). Methods: In this multicentre study, data from patients with central and branch retinal vein occlusion (CRVO and BRVO), central and branch retinal artery occlusion (CRAO and BRAO), and anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (AION) were retrospectively collected during a 2-month index period (1 June–31 July 2021) according to a defined protocol. The relation to any previous vaccination was documented for the consecutive case series. Numbers of RVOD and COVID-19 vaccination were investigated in a case-by-case analysis. A case–control study using age- and sex-matched controls from the general population (study participants from the Gutenberg Health Study) and an adjusted conditional logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results: Four hundred and twenty-one subjects presenting during the index period (61 days) were enrolled: one hundred and twenty-one patients with CRVO, seventy-five with BRVO, fifty-six with CRAO, sixty-five with BRAO, and one hundred and four with AION. Three hundred and thirty-two (78.9%) patients had been vaccinated before the onset of RVOD. The vaccines given were BNT162b2/BioNTech/Pfizer (n = 221), followed by ChadOx1/AstraZeneca (n = 57), mRNA-1273/Moderna (n = 21), and Ad26.COV2.S/Johnson &amp; Johnson (n = 11; unknown n = 22). Our case–control analysis integrating population-based data from the GHS yielded no evidence of an increased risk after COVID-19 vaccination (OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.60–1.45, p = 0.75) in connection with a vaccination within a 4-week window. Conclusions: To date, there has been no evidence of any association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and a higher RVOD risk.