A study shows that the risk of inflammatory heart disease is greater in a COVID-19 vaccination population than the unvaccinated population, but the risk pales in comparison to the severity of contracting severe COVID. The results appeared in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Researchers assessed 67 patients with inflammatory heart disease from December 15, 2020, to June 15, 2021, with or without preceding COVID-19. They noted that relative rates of inflammatory heart disease were examined for vaccinated patients compared with unvaccinated patients.

Overall, around 31% of patients with heart inflammation had a COVID-19 vaccine within the previous 60 days, meaning that there was an inflammatory heart disease rate of 2.30 per 100,000 vaccinated patients of the 914,611 patients who were vaccinated. The relative risk of inflammatory heart disease for the vaccinated patients compared to the unvaccinated patients was 2.05 times higher rate within the 30-day window (P = .01) and had a trend toward increase in the 60-day window (relative rate = 1.63; = .07). The investigators noted that vaccinated patients with inflammatory heart disease were treated successfully with 1 death related to a pre-existing condition.

“Although rare, the rate of inflammatory heart disease was greater in a SARS-CoV-2-vaccinated population than the unvaccinated population. This risk is eclipsed by the risk of contracting coronavirus disease 2019 and its associated, commonly severe outcomes. Nevertheless, clinicians and patients should be informed of this risk to facilitate earlier recognition and treatment,” the researchers concluded.

Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35141346/

 

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, myocarditis, pericarditis, vaccination