Study reveals young people recover quickly from rare COVID-19 side effect

pharmafile | December 7, 2021 | News story | Manufacturing and Production  

Most young people under the age of 21 who develop suspected COVID-19 myocarditis (inflammation of the muscle), show mild symptoms which improve quickly, according to a study.

Myocarditis is a rare but serious condition that causes inflammation of the heart muscle. It can weaken the heart and affect the heart’s electrical system, which keeps the heart pumping regularly.

The study was published in the journal Circulation, and reviewed the medical records of patients younger than 21, by assessing data from 26 paediatric medical centres across the US and Canada.

Almost every case of myocarditis (97.8 percent), followed an mRNA vaccine, and 91.4 percent occurred after the second vaccine dose. The onset of symptoms occurred at a median of two days following vaccine administration, and chest pain was the most common symptom, ollowed by fever and shortness of breath.

Roughly one in five patients was admitted to intensive care, but researchers reported that there were no deaths. However, most patients were hospitalised for two or three days.

Jane W Newburger, associate chair at Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Commonwealth Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, US, said: “The highest rates of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination have been reported among adolescent and young adult males. While current data on symptoms, case severity and short-term outcomes is limited, we set out to examine a large group of suspected cases of this heart condition as it relates to the COVID-19 vaccine in teens and adults younger than 21 in North America.”

Lina Adams

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