New-onset Polymyalgia Rheumatica Following the Administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine

Intern Med. 2022 Mar 1;61(5):749-753. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.8651-21. Epub 2021 Dec 11.

Abstract

We herein report the case of an 80-year-old Japanese woman who presented to our hospital with bilateral pain in the shoulders and hips lasting for a month since 2 days after the second dose of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine. Her physical findings, laboratory data, and ultrasonographic findings of bilateral biceps tenosynovitis and lateral subacromial bursitis were consistent with a diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). She was successfully treated with oral prednisolone 15 mg/day. Although a causal relationship could not be definitively confirmed, PMR should be considered as a differential diagnosis in cases of persistent myalgia after administration of the BNT162b2 vaccine.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; adverse effect; polymyalgia rheumatica.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged, 80 and over
  • BNT162 Vaccine
  • COVID-19 Vaccines / adverse effects
  • COVID-19*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Polymyalgia Rheumatica* / diagnosis
  • Polymyalgia Rheumatica* / drug therapy
  • SARS-CoV-2

Substances

  • COVID-19 Vaccines
  • BNT162 Vaccine