Presented by: Benjamin Lichtbroun MD
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Introduction

There has been a concern in mainstream media about adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccine including those on the genitourinary system. Our objective was to evaluate the rate of patient-reported genitourinary symptoms after the COVID-19 vaccine. We hypothesized rates of genitourinary side effects was not different compared to other commonly used vaccines.

Materials

We queried the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System database for all genitourinary symptoms reported after receiving the COVID-19, influenza, shingles, and pneumonia vaccines. Symptoms were placed into one of five categories – lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), sexual side effects, infectious, hematuria, or other disorders of the penis/scrotum/testis. Rates of genitourinary symptoms were compared between the vaccines. Data collection occurred 7-8/2022. Since the shingles and pneumonia vaccines are given to elderly patients, we compared COVID-19 vaccine adverse events for those 60-years or older between those groups.

Results

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Out of 13,568,650 symptoms reported after the COVID-19 vaccine, 9,022 were genitourinary (0.066%). Genitourinary symptoms included LUTS (39.71%), infectious (32.38%), hematuria (17.42%), disorders of the penis/scrotum/testis (5.99%), and sexual side effects (4.50%). Rates of genitourinary symptoms after the COVID-19 vaccine was significantly lower than the influenza (0.128%) (Table 1) but higher than the shingles (0.030%) and pneumonia (0.037%) vaccines (Table 2). There was no significant differences in the penis/scrotum/testis symptoms category. 

Conclusion

Genitourinary symptoms from the COVID-19 vaccine are rare. The rate of side effects is lower than the influenza vaccine, and while higher than the pneumonia and shingles vaccines, these rates are overall very low and unlikely to be clinically significant. 

Funding

None

Co-Authors

Kyle Moore,
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Aravind Rajagopalan,
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Kevin Chua, MD
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Danielle Velez-Leitner, MD
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School