[Literature review of 75 clusters of adverse events following immunization]

To know the characteristic of AEFI clusters, and provide reference for preventing and handling of AEFI clusters.

The literature were collected from CNKD and WAN FANG datebases 1999-2009. 4. The related information were analysed from the qualified literatures.

75 clusters from 83 literatures of 41 kinds of journal were identified. Among them, 64% occurred in rural area, 62.67% occurred at school. 10 kinds of vaccines were identified. 13 clusters of Japanese encephalitis vaccine (JEV), 12 of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), 10 of meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine (MPV), and 10 of live attenuated measles vaccine (MV), totally accounted for 60%. Common, minor reactions accounted for 5.33%, Rare, serious reactions was 17.33%, Coincidental illnesses was 12%, Psychogenic reactions was 46.67%, practice error events was 46.67%. 4 465 cases were reported, and 95.52% of them were school students. 82.22% were psychogenic reactions and 9.14% were coincidental illnesses. Common, minor vaccine reactions were fever; rare, serious vaccine reactions mainly were anaphylaxis, which accounted for 57.14%; psychogenic reactions mainly were hysteria, which accounted for 97.14%, 57.58% of them occurred after Vaccination of JEV, MPV and MV. Practice error events mainly were local redness and swelling, induration abscess and diabrosis. Clusters occurred after BCG vaccination accounted for 71.43%.

AEFI clusters occurred mainly in rural areas and after immunization campaigns at school. The incidence rate of common, minor vaccine reactions and rare, serious vaccine reactions were low. Psychogenic reactions and practice error events, especially after BCG vaccination, had a higher incident rate. The total occurrence of clusters and the average cases of each events were larger. It is important to improve the quality of vaccination service for preventing and handling AEFI clusters.