myocarditis risk is seven times greater with covid-19 than vaccines
heart inflammation can lead to blood clots in your heart that cause stroke or heart attack, and can be fatal.
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many experts say that vaccinations against covid-19 are safe and important for children and teens. getty
with approximately 80 per cent of canadians vaccinated against covid-19, according to health canada, that leaves 20 per cent unvaccinated and more vulnerable to the virus.
the pandemic health risks continue to mount as long covid-19 outcomes are investigated, including persistent fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath, palpitations, and mental health and cognition problems, says the post-acute covid-19 team at johns hopkins medicine in baltimore.
this makes news from penn state college of medicine even more critical.
penn state scientists have discovered that the risk of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, is seven times higher for people who’ve been infected by covid-19 than from getting the vaccine. shortness of breath, chest pains and rapid or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmias) are common symptoms of myocarditis. the condition can resolve on its own or with treatment, but it also can lead to lasting damage to your heart.
heart damage that lasts
as the mayo clinic notes, severe myocarditis weakens your heart muscle and electrical system so that it can’t beat properly, therefore your body doesn’t get sufficient blood circulated. in those cases, heart inflammation can lead to blood clots in your heart that cause stroke or heart attack, and can be fatal.
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myocarditis can be triggered by a viral infection, a drug reaction or a general inflammatory condition. it has been labelled as one the complications of sars-cov-2 infection.
“our findings show that the risk of myocarditis from being infected by covid-19 is far greater than from getting the vaccine,” dr. navya voleti, study author and resident physician in the penn state department of medicine, said in a news release on the findings. “moving forward, it will be important to monitor the potential long-term effects in those who develop myocarditis.”
the study, published in frontiers in cardiovascular medicine, is the largest to date that has looked at the risk of myocarditis as a result of having covid-19 compared to inflammation following covid-19 vaccinations. it involved a systematic review and meta-analysis of 22 studies published from december 2019 through to may 2022, investigating almost 58 million people who reported heart trouble. these people belonged to one of two groups: the 55.5 million who were vaccinated against covid-19 compared to those who were not vaccinated (vaccination group), and the 2.5 million who contracted the virus compared to those who did not contract the virus (covid-19 group). the median age of those studied was 49 years and 49 per cent were men.
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in the vaccination group, the researchers looked separately at the risk of myocarditis for a range of covid-19 vaccines, including mrna vaccines from pfizer-biontech and moderna, as well as, novavax’s nuvaxovid, astrazeneca’s vaxzevria, and johnson & johnson’s janssen.
the researchers also found that 61 per cent of people diagnosed with myocarditis after having covid-19 or receiving the vaccine were men. of the people who were diagnosed with myocarditis in both the vaccination and covid-19 groups, 1.07 per cent were hospitalized and 0.015 per cent died.
“covid-19 infection and the related vaccines both pose a risk for myocarditis. however, the relative risk of heart inflammation induced by covid-19 infection is substantially greater than the risk posed by the vaccines,” lead author dr. paddy ssentongo said in the news release. “we hope our findings will help mitigate vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine uptake.”
the researchers note that while vaccines have been shown to reduce severe covid-19 symptoms, heart complications have been linked with mrna covid-19 vaccination, with myocarditis in teenage boys a primary concern. and though a recent study out of israel, published in the american heart association journal circulation, found the risk of developing myocarditis from a booster dose of the pfizer covid-19 vaccine to be low, the risk was highest for teen boys and young men.
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still, many experts say that vaccinations against covid-19 are safe and important for children and teens. according to the myocarditis foundation, “the impact of covid-19 on the heart and the much higher risk of myocarditis among patients with covid-19 compared to patients without covid-19 underscores the importance of prevention of spread of the virus. vaccines against sars-cov-2 have been demonstrated to be safe and effective at preventing serious infection.” the foundation referenced the may 2021 study in the new england journal of medicine that reported a vaccine efficacy of 100 per cent among over 1,000 fully vaccinated children age 12 to 15.
karen hawthorne is a toronto-based writer.
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