Abstract
Objective: To investigate symptom reporting following the first and second COVID-19 vaccine doses, attribution of symptoms to the vaccine, and factors associated with symptom reporting.
Methods: Prospective cohort study (T1: 13–15 January 2021, T2: 4–15 October 2021). Participants were aged 18 years or older, living in the UK. Personal, clinical, and psychological factors were investigated at T1. Symptoms were reported at T2. We used logistic regression analyses to investigate associations.
Results: After the first COVID-19 vaccine dose, 74.1% (95% CI 71.4% to 76.7%, n = 762/1028) of participants reported at least one injection-site symptom, while 65.0% (95% CI 62.0% to 67.9%, n = 669/1029) reported at least one other (non-injection-site) symptom. Symptom reporting was associated with being a woman and younger. After the second dose, 52.9% (95% CI 49.8% to 56.0%, n = 532/1005) of participants reported at least one injection-site symptom and 43.7% (95% CI 40.7% to 46.8%, n = 440/1006) reported at least one other (non-injection-site) symptom. Symptom reporting was associated with having reported symptoms after the first dose, having an illness that put one at higher risk of COVID-19 (non-injection-site symptoms only), and not believing that one had enough information about COVID-19 to make an informed decision about vaccination (injection-site symptoms only).
Conclusions: Women and younger people were more likely to report symptoms from vaccination. People who had reported symptoms from previous doses were also more likely to report symptoms subsequently, although symptom reporting following the second vaccine was lower than following the first vaccine. Few psychological factors were associated with symptom reporting.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 111104 |
| Journal | Journal of Psychosomatic Research |
| Volume | 164 |
| Early online date | 30 Nov 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information: Data collection was funded by a Keele University Faculty of Natural Sciences Research Development award to SS, JS and NS, and a King’s COVID Appeal Fund award granted jointly to LS, GJR, RA, NS, SS and JS. NS is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust . NS is a member of King's Improvement Science, which offers co-funding to the NIHR ARC South London and is funded by King's Health Partners (Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, King's College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust) , and the Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation . LS, RA and GJR are funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response , a partnership between the UK Health Security Agency, King's College London and the University of East Anglia. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, UK Health Security Agency, the charities or the Department of Health and Social Care. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising.Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Citation: Louise E. Smith, Julius Sim, Susan M. Sherman, Richard Amlôt, Megan Cutts, Hannah Dasch, Nick Sevdalis, G. James Rubin, Psychological factors associated with reporting side effects following COVID-19 vaccination: A prospective cohort study (CoVAccS – Wave 3), Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Volume 164, 2023, 111104, ISSN 0022-3999, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2022.111104.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2022.111104.
Keywords
- Adverse effects
- COVID-19
- Immunization
- Psychological factors
- Symptom perception
