TrialSiteNews

Physician-investigators at King Fahad University Hospital in Khobar, Eastern Province Saudi Arabia recently conducted a study, the largest of its kind, linking rare COVID-19 vaccine-related injuries and incidence of new onset of autoimmune disease, including systemic lupus erythematosus SLE The study team tapped into sources including the hospital’s electronic medical record finding 31 patients with new onset post COVID-19 vaccine autoimmune diseases and a severe exacerbation of an existing disease including patients with connective tissue disorders, vasculitis, as well as neurologic diseases With results uploaded to Dovepress, the study team led by internal medicine physician-scientist Reem Alsulaiman found out of the 31 cases involving immune-mediated disease, 18 females (58%) and 13 males (42%) with only 4 of the total patients (13%) showing evidence of an autoimmune condition prior to the COVID-19 jab The average time between vaccination and new-onset disease symptoms equaled 7 days.

This is an important study, given these Saudi investigators produced what they believe may be the largest cohort of patients reported in the literature and a first for this part of the world What follows is a TrialSite breakdown of the results.