OBJECTIVE: To estimate the pooled incidence of Bell's palsy after COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science, and google scholar were searched by two independent researchers. We also searched gray literature including references of the references and conference abstracts. We extracted data regarding the total number of participants, first author, publication year, the country of origin, female/male, type of vaccines, and the number of patients who developed Bell's palsy after COVID-19 vaccination. RESULTS: Literature search revealed 370 articles, subsequently deleting duplicates 227 remained. After careful evaluation of the full texts, twenty articles remained for meta-analysis. The most commonly administered vaccines were Pfizer followed by Moderna. In total, 4.54e+07 individuals received vaccines against COVID-19, and 1739 cases developed Bell's palsy. In nine studies, controls (individuals without vaccination) were enrolled. The total number of controls was 1809069, of whom, 203 developed Bell's palsy. The incidence of Bell's palsy after COVID-19 vaccines was ignorable. The odds of developing Bell's palsy after COVID-19 vaccines was 1.02 (95%CI: 0.79-1.32) (I2 = 74.8%, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis show that the incidence of peripheral facial palsy after COVID-19 vaccination is ignorable and vaccination does not increase the risk of developing Bell's palsy. Maybe, Bell's palsy is a presenting symptom of a more severe form of COVID-19, so clinicians must be aware of this.
- All age groups
- Vaccine/vaccination
- COVID-19
- Safety
