Listen to Story As concerns have risen about Covid-19 vaccines in increasing the risk myocarditis, a study have revealed that Covid-19 infections is more harmful for the heart than the vaccines. A recent study published in JAMA sheds light on this issue, revealing that the likelihood 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 compared to contracting the virus itself. The research, led by Dr Mahmoud Zureik, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Versailles, focused on individuals aged 12 to 49 who were hospitalised for myocarditis in France from December 2020 to June 2022, during the mass vaccination period.
The study divided participants into three groups: those hospitalised with myocarditis within seven days of an mRNA vaccination, those admitted within 30 days of contracting Covid-19 without recent vaccination, and those with myocarditis from other causes. These individuals were monitored for 18 months. The results showed that those with vaccine-related myocarditis had half the likelihood of being readmitted for heart-related issues compared to those with myocarditis linked to Covid-19 or other causes.
Dr Zureik said that the risk of myocarditis from mRNA vaccines is "very, very low" and highlighted that Covid-19 poses additional cardiovascular risks beyond myocarditis. The study, however, didn't explore why the vaccines are linked to myocarditis or why the immune response to vaccination differs from that to the virus, but Dr Zureik suggested that awareness of the risk may lead to earlier detection and milder cases. "Patients with post–Covid-19 mRNA vaccination myocarditis, contrary to those with post–COVID-19 myocarditis, show a lower frequency of cardiovascular complications than those with conventional myocarditis at 18 months," the researchers wrote.
However, affected patients, mainly healthy young men, may require medical management up to several months after hospital discharge..
