Changes in incidence rates of outcomes of interest in vaccine safety studies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an abrupt drop in in-person health care (inpatient, Emergency Department, outpatient) and an increase in telehealth care, which poses challenges in vaccine safety studies that identify outcomes from in-person encounters. We examined the changes in incidence rates of selected encounter-based outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We assembled a cohort of members from 8 Vaccine Safety Datalink sites from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2020. Using ICD-10 diagnosis codes or laboratory criteria, we identified 21 incident outcomes in traditional in-person settings and all settings. We defined 4 periods in 2020: January-February (pre-pandemic), April-June (early pandemic), July-September (middle pandemic), and October-December (

SUBMITTER: Xu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9013605 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature