Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify if there was a change
in the incidence of epistaxis attendances following initiation of the
COVID-19 vaccination programme. Design: A retrospective, cohort study.
Setting: A large university teaching hospital with an emergency
department (ED). Participants: A study group consisting of adults
attending the emergency department for epistaxis over a 2-month period
in 2021 and a control group consisting of adults attending the emergency
for epistaxis over a 2-month period in 2019. Main outcome measures: The
comparison of emergency department admission data with vaccination data
between the control and study groups. Results: 187 (0.8% of total ED
attendances) epistaxis attendances occurred in 2021 compared to 174
(0.6% of total ED attendances) epistaxis attendances in 2019 (p=0.002).
No significant differences in platelet count were observed between the
vaccinated (250.52 x109/L) and unvaccinated patients (214 x109/L) in the
study group (p=0.117). The mean time between vaccination and
presentation with epistaxis was 36 days ± 23.5 (n=102). Conclusion: The
COVID-19 vaccine may be responsible for an increased proportion of
epistaxis attendances to our emergency department. No evidence of
thrombocytopenia was observed amongst patients presenting with epistaxis
after vaccine administration. The mean time between vaccination and
presentation with epistaxis was over five weeks.