Search

Background Several types of vasculitis have been observed and reported in temporal association with the administration of various vaccines. A systematic review of current evidence is lacking. Objective This systematic literature review aimed to assess available evidence and current reporting practice of vasculitides as adverse events following immunization (AEFI). Methods We reviewed the literature from 1st January 1994 to 30th June 2014. This review comprises randomized controlled trials, observational studies, case series, case reports, reviews and comments regardless of vaccine and target population. Results The initial search resulted in the identification of 6656 articles. Of these, 157 articles were assessed for eligibility and 75 studies were considered for analysis, including 6 retrospective/observational studies, 2 randomized controlled trials, 7 reviews, 11 case series, 46 case reports and 3 comments. Most of the larger, higher quality studies found no causal association between vaccination and subsequent development of vasculitis, including several studies on Kawasaki disease and Henoch-Schonlein purpura (IgA vasculitis). Smaller case series reported a few cases of vasculitis following BCG and vaccines against influenza and hepatitis. Only 24% of the articles reported using a case definition of vasculitis. Conclusions Existing literature does not allow establishing a causative link between vaccination and vasculitides. Further investigations were strengthened by the use of standardized case definitions and methods for data collection, analysis and presentation to improve data comparability and interpretation of vasculitis cases following immunization.

Vasculitides have been reported as adverse events following immunization (AEFI) following various vaccines. We describe reports of vasculitis to three international spontaneous reporting systems.All spontaneous reports of vasculitis following immunization between January 2003 and June 2014 were retrieved from Eudravigilance (EV), the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and VigiBaseWe retrieved 1797 reports of vasculitis in EV, 1171 in VAERS, and 2606 in VigiBaseSimilar reporting patterns of vasculitides were observed in different databases. Implementation of standardized case definitions for specific vasculitides could improve overall data quality and comparability of reports.