Ding JY, Zhu JJ. Based on real-world data: Risk factors and prediction model for mental disorders induced by rabies vaccination. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(8): 105929 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i8.105929]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jin-Yan Ding, Nurse-in-Charge, Department of Infusion, Yiwu Central Hospital, No. 699 Jiangdong Road, Jiangdong Street, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China. ding_xiao_ting@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Aug 19, 2025; 15(8): 105929 Published online Aug 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i8.105929
Based on real-world data: Risk factors and prediction model for mental disorders induced by rabies vaccination
Jin-Yan Ding, Jun-Juan Zhu
Jin-Yan Ding, Department of Infusion, Yiwu Central Hospital, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China
Jun-Juan Zhu, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
Author contributions: Ding JY designed the study, contributed to data acquisition and manuscript writing; Zhu JJ analyzed the data; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the 2024 Yiwu City Research Plan Project, No. 24-3-102.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Yiwu Central Hospital (No. 2024-IRB-058).
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to enrollment in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jin-Yan Ding, Nurse-in-Charge, Department of Infusion, Yiwu Central Hospital, No. 699 Jiangdong Road, Jiangdong Street, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China. ding_xiao_ting@163.com
Received: April 30, 2025 Revised: May 29, 2025 Accepted: June 24, 2025 Published online: August 19, 2025 Processing time: 99 Days and 18.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Rabies is a zoonotic viral disease affecting the central nervous system, caused by the rabies virus, with a case-fatality rate of 100% once symptoms appear.
AIM
To analyze high-risk factors associated with mental disorders induced by rabies vaccination and to construct a risk prediction model to inform strategies for improving patients’ mental health.
METHODS
Patients who received rabies vaccinations at the Department of Infusion Yiwu Central Hospital between August 2024 and July 2025 were included, totaling 384 cases. Data were collected from medical records and included demographic characteristics (age, gender, occupation), lifestyle habits, and details regarding vaccine type, dosage, and injection site. The incidence of psychiatric disorders following vaccination was assessed using standardized anxiety and depression rating scales. Patients were categorized into two groups based on the presence or absence of anxiety and depression symptoms: The psychiatric disorder group and the non-psychiatric disorder group. Differences between the two groups were compared, and high-risk factors were identified using multivariate logistic regression analysis. A predictive model was then developed based on these factors to evaluate its predictive performance.
RESULTS
Among the 384 patients who received rabies vaccinations, 36 cases (9.38%) were diagnosed with anxiety, 52 cases (13.54%) with depression, and 88 cases (22.92%) with either condition. Logistic regression analysis identified the following significant risk factors for psychiatric disorders: Education level of primary school or below, exposure site at the head and neck, exposure classified as grade III, family status of divorced/widowed/unmarried/living alone, number of wounds greater than one, and low awareness of rabies prevention and control (P < 0.05). The risk prediction model demonstrated good performance, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.859, a specificity of 74.42%, and a sensitivity of 93.02%.
CONCLUSION
In real-world settings, psychiatric disorders following rabies vaccination are relatively common and are associated with factors such as lower education level, higher exposure severity, vulnerable family status, and limited awareness of rabies prevention and control. The developed risk prediction model may aid in early identification of high-risk individuals and support timely clinical intervention.
Core Tip: Identifying risk factors for mental disorders induced by vaccination and constructing predictive models is essential for safeguarding the mental health of patients especially those receiving rabies vaccination. This study is based on real-world data and provides the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of the risk factors for mental disorders caused by rabies vaccination, and constructs a predictive model.
