Anesth Pain Med.  2023 Jan;18(1):57-64. 10.17085/apm.22207.

Herpes zoster after COVID-19 vaccination, aspect of pain medicine: a retrospective, single-center study

• Lee JH
• Kim YY
• Heo HJ
• Park JH
• Cho HG
• Kim G

• KMID: 2540335
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.17085/apm.22207

Abstract

Background
Herpes zoster (HZ) is one of the most common cutaneous adverse reactionsassociated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine and has been widely reported. This study aimed to evaluate HZ following COVID-19 vaccination from the viewpointof pain management.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 42 patients with HZ who visited the painclinic between August 2021 and October 2021. Medical records were reviewed to comparepain severity, treatment methods, treatment duration, and incidence rate of postherpeticneuralgia (PHN) in patients who received COVID-19 vaccination within 6 weeks prior to developing symptoms compared with other patients with HZ.Results: Fourteen patients developed HZ within 6 weeks after vaccination and were significantly younger than the other HZ groups. There were no significant differences in the frequency of prodromal pain, location of pain, pain severity, treatment methods, treatmentduration, or incidence of PHN compared with the other HZ groups.Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination-related HZ showed clinical features similar to those ofthe other HZ.

Keyword

COVID-19; Herpes zoster; Postherpetic neuralgia; Vaccination; Varicella zoster virus.

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Study flowchart. COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019, CV-related HZ: coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination-related herpes zoster.

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  Fig. 2. Recovery time for herpes zoster. The recovery rates within 8 weeks in the CV-related HZ and control groups are 85.7% and 68.0%, respectively. CV-related HZ: coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination-related herpes zoster.

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