Patients with COVID-19 vaccine-associated heart inflammation had less functional impairment and less extensive myocardial abnormalities than people infected with the virus, a study published Feb. 15 in Radiology found.
Researchers analyzed data from 92 consecutive adult patients with myocarditis and abnormalities on cardiac MRI performed between 2019 and 2021. Patients were classified into three groups: myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination, myocarditis after COVID-19 infection and myocarditis not associated COVID-19 vaccination or infection.
Three other key findings:
- Twenty-two percent of patients had myocarditis after vaccination; 11 percent had myocarditis after illness; and 66 percent had myocarditis for other reasons.
- Fourteen of the vaccinated patients were admitted to a hospital with a median length of stay of three days, but none were admitted to the intensive care unit.
- All patients with vaccine-associated myocarditis were asymptomatic with no adverse events during a short follow-up visit.