VACCINE SAFETY IN CHILDREN WITH GENETICALLY CONFIRMED MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE

Annemarie de Vreugd; Franz A Zimmermann; Katja Steinbrücker; Maaike C de Vries; Lonneke de Boer; Mirian Ch Janssen; Martina Huemer; Saskia B Wortmann

doi:10.1016/j.imlet.2024.106946

VACCINE SAFETY IN CHILDREN WITH GENETICALLY CONFIRMED MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASE

Immunol Lett. 2024 Nov 16:106946. doi: 10.1016/j.imlet.2024.106946. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Annemarie de Vreugd¹, Franz A Zimmermann², Katja Steinbrücker², Maaike C de Vries¹, Lonneke de Boer¹, Mirian Ch Janssen³, Martina Huemer⁴, Saskia B Wortmann⁵

Affiliations

¹ Amalia Children's Hospital, Radboudumc, Department of Pediatrics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
² University Children's Hospital Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University (PMU), Salzburg, Austria.
³ Amalia Children's Hospital, Radboudumc, Department of Pediatrics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Radboudumc, Department of Internal Medicine, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria; Division of Metabolism, Children's Research Centre, University Children's Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁵ Amalia Children's Hospital, Radboudumc, Department of Pediatrics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; University Children's Hospital Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University (PMU), Salzburg, Austria. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39557131
DOI: 10.1016/j.imlet.2024.106946

Abstract

We here explore adverse events following immunization (AEFI) in children with mitochondrial disease (MD) recruited from two expertise centers in Austria (SALK) and The Netherlands (RUMC). Parents completed a questionnaire on the type of immunizations received and AEFI in a post-vaccination exposure period of seven days. 95 individuals were invited to this study, of whom 30 (median age 13.4 years) participated. Together these individuals had received 376 immunizations with a median of 12 vaccinations each. In 316 of 376 (84%) vaccinations no AEFI occurred, 22 patients (73%) never experienced any AEFI. Eight patients experienced 76 AEFI after 60 vaccinations, these were mild (redness (n=9) /pain at injection site (n=21), fever (n=44), gastrointestinal complaints (n= 2)). None had a metabolic deterioration or seizures, no patient was admitted to the hospital. Although our data is limited by the small sample size, this may aid in discussing responsible immunization decisions with parents.

Keywords: adverse effect; adverse events following immunization (AEFI); epilepsy; immunization; metabolic deterioration; seizure; side effect; vaccination.