Cohort study of cardiovascular safety of different COVID-19 vaccination doses among 46 million adults in England
Samantha Ip^, Teri-Louise North^, Fatemeh Torabi, Yangfan Li, Hoda Abbasizanjani, Ashley Akbari, Elsie Horne, Rachel Denholm, Spencer Keene, Spiros Denaxas, Amitava Banerjee, Kamlesh Khunti, Cathie Sudlow, William N Whiteley, Jonathan A C Sterne^, Angela M Wood^, Venexia Walker^, on behalf of the CVD-COVID-UK/COVID-IMPACT Consortium and the Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing COVID-19 National Core Study
^ Authors contributed equally
There were reported cases of venous and arterial blood clots in unusual locations, such as the cerebral veins, low platelet levels, as well as inflammation of the heart, after various doses of COVID-19 vaccination. We will study the associated risks of arterial and venous vascular events with vaccine dose (first, second and booster) and type (AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna) using population-level data. We will study all adults alive in England at the start of vaccine rollout 8th December 2020 with data included in the NHS Digital Trusted Research Environment for England.
We will compare the risk of developing one of these conditions among people who have had a particular COVID-19 vaccine dose and type with the risk in those who are eligible for the dose and type in question. We will account for other differences, such as age, sex, ethnic group and previous medical history, that might affect the risk of these conditions.
This research will provide reliable information about any risks associated with COVID-19 vaccines to medicine regulators, the UK Departments of Health, health professionals, and the public. It will be important to understand not only whether there is an increased risk with a COVID vaccine but also the size of any increased risk and whether it only applies to particular groups of people. It will also be important to understand how any risk compares with the benefits of the vaccine, which are known to be substantial.
Ip, S., North, TL., Torabi, F. et al. Cohort study of cardiovascular safety of different COVID-19 vaccination doses among 46 million adults in England. Nat Commun 15, 6085 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49634-x
- View the analysis code used in NHS England's SDE for England
- View the phenotyping algorithms and codelists used in NHS England's SDE for England
This is a sub-project of project CCU002 approved by the CVD-COVID-UK / COVID-IMPACT Approvals & Oversight Board (sub-project: CCU002_06).
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