Covid-19 infection poses greater risk to heart than vaccines: Study
A new study suggests that COVID-19 infection poses a greater risk to the heart than vaccines, and vaccine-related myocarditis is less severe.
Concerns have been raised about COVID-19 vaccines increasing the risk of myocarditis, with a study suggesting that COVID-19 infection is more harmful to the heart than vaccines.
A recent study published in JAMA sheds light on this issue, finding that the risk of developing myocarditis, a condition where the heart muscle becomes inflamed, often due to an immune response, is actually lower after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine than after becoming infected with the virus.
The research, led by Dr. Mahmoud Zureik, professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Versailles, focused on individuals aged 12 to 49 who were hospitalized for myocarditis in France from December 2020 to June 2022, during the mass vaccination period.
The study divided participants into three groups: those hospitalized for myocarditis within seven days of mRNA vaccination, those hospitalized within 30 days of a recent COVID-19 infection without vaccination, and those with myocarditis due to other causes.
These individuals were monitored for 18 months.
The results showed that people with vaccine-associated myocarditis were half as likely to be readmitted for cardiac problems compared with those with myocarditis associated with COVID-19 or other causes.
Dr. Zurek said the risk of myocarditis from mRNA vaccines is “very, very low” and highlighted that COVID-19 poses additional cardiac risks besides myocarditis.
Although the study did not address why vaccines are linked to myocarditis or why the immune response to vaccination differs from that to the virus, Dr. Jureczak suggested that awareness of the risk may lead to earlier detection of the disease and milder cases.
“Patients with post-COVID-19 mRNA vaccination myocarditis, in contrast to those with post-COVID-19 myocarditis, appeared to have a lower frequency of cardiac complications than those with conventional myocarditis at 18 months,” the researchers wrote.
However, affected patients, predominantly healthy young men, may require medical management for several months after being discharged from hospital.
