Introduction: Hemorrhagic stroke and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) are associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and vaccination. We aimed to investigate changes in the incidence of hemorrhagic stroke and CVST in South Korea before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the factors associated with these changes. Materials and Methods: We conducted a nationwide time-series study using population-based databases between 2007 and 2022. The real-world and forecasted incidences of acute non-traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and CVST during the pandemic period (2020–2022) were estimated and compared with the pre-pandemic period (2007–2019). The prevalence of conventional risk factors was measured using time-series data. Finally, a time-series correlation analysis was performed to examine the temporal association between conventional risk factors, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Results: The incidence of hemorrhagic stroke (SAH and ICH) was lower during the pandemic than during the pre-pandemic period. This observed decrease was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of conventional risk factors but not with SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination. The incidence of CVST was higher during the pandemic than during the pre-pandemic period, which may be temporally related to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (Pearson correlation coefficient [r] = 0.349, P = 0.031). Conclusion: We report reassuring evidence of hemorrhagic stroke associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. However, awareness of CVST may be required for future vaccine rollouts and SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

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The Institutional Review Board at Samsung Medical Center granted an exemption for review of this study because it involved the analysis of de-identified data already obtained through the epidemiological investigation, presented a minimal risk to the participants, and met the needs of current public health interests (identifier: SMC 2023-03-056).

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