New study provides reassuring data on rare heart condition after COVID-19 vaccination

A new study has provided reassuring data on the rare heart condition that some people developed after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, finding that clinical outcomes of myocarditis or myopericarditis were predominantly mild

The study, entitled “SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and myocarditis or myopericarditis: population based cohort study,” was published in the British Medical Journal on Thursday.

Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle and myopericarditis is the inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. Both are serious but rare conditions usually trigged by a viral, bacterial or fungal infection.

Recent reports and studies have indicated an increased risk of heart inflammation after receiving a mRNA vaccine, especially after a second dose, leading to health regulatory bodies adding updates to the labels of both Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines, or taking them off the table for certain populations.

However, no study has investigated the association of mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations and myocarditis or myopericarditis using information from a complete population, according to a release.