Graves’ disease after COVID mRNA vaccination for the first time diagnosed in adolescence-case report. Cause and effect relationship or simple coincidence?
Abstract
Objectives
Over the past 3 years, coronavirus disease 2019 with its worldwide spread has profoundly marked public health, therefore anti-COVID-19 vaccinations have been developed to prevent the dissemination of the disease. To date, 71 cases of Graves’ disease (GD) after vaccination against SARS-Cov-2 were described in the adult population. Our goal is to present the first case in the paediatric population.
Case presentation
We present the first case of a 16-year-old adolescent girl who developed GD 6–7 weeks after the second dose anti-COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. Therapy with methimazole and propranolol was started, achieving normal thyroid function and negativity of thyroid autoantibodies at the time of therapy discontinuation after 8 months.
Conclusions
This case shows that the development of GD after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination can occur also in the adolescent population. Nevertheless, the small number of cases of GD described so far, after many millions of vaccinations, makes it impossible to determine whether this is simple a coincidence or a cause. Further epidemiological data on the incidence of GD in the vaccination period compared to the previous period will be able to clearly define this question.
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr Ermanno Bacchini, MD, for performing competent ultrasound checks and Prof. Nicola Carano, MD, for his experienced cardiologic evaluation, both offering their valuable contribution in the development of this research.
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Research ethics: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.
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Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained by the adolescent girl included in this study and by her family.
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Author contributions: Each author has made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, participated in drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content, agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work, accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
References
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Reviews
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) in pediatric endocrinology
- Relationship between vitamin D deficiency and neonatal hypocalcemia: a meta-analysis
- Original Articles
- Associated autoimmune thyroid diseases in children and adolescents with type one diabetes in Jordan
- The therapeutic effect of oral desmopressin lyophilisate formulation in children with central diabetes insipidus
- Effect of complete suppression of androstenedione on auxological development in prepubertal patients with classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia
- Safety and efficacy of the structured onboarding steps and initiation protocol for MiniMed™ 780G system among an Egyptian cohort of young people living with type 1 diabetes
- The effect of problem-solving skills on blood glucose regulation and disease management in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Depression, anxiety, eating problems, and diabulimia risk in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: a case–control study
- Genotyping in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia by sequencing of newborn bloodspot samples
- Case Reports
- A pediatric case of autosomal dominant hypocalcemia type 2
- Very severe hypertriglyceridemia complicating pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment: a call for management guidelines
- Management of acute metabolic crisis in TANGO2 deficiency: a case report
- Novel PAX4 variant in a child and family with diabetes mellitus – case report and review of the literature
- Graves’ disease after COVID mRNA vaccination for the first time diagnosed in adolescence-case report. Cause and effect relationship or simple coincidence?