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Rose J, Hulscher N, McCullough PA. Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis. Ther Adv Drug Saf 2024; 15:20420986241226566. [PMID: 38293564 PMCID: PMC10823859 DOI: 10.1177/20420986241226566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Following the roll-out of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2, Moderna mRNA-1273, and Janssen Ad26.COV2.S coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) injections in the United States, millions of individuals have reported adverse events (AEs) using the vaccine adverse events reports system (VAERS). The objective of this analysis is to describe the myocarditis data in VAERS and the COVID-19 vaccines as potential determinants of myocarditis. Methods We used VAERS data to examine the frequency of reporting myocarditis since the beginning of the mass vaccination campaign and compared this with historical values in VAERS and COVID-19 vaccine administration data from the Our World in Data database. We examined myocarditis reports in VAERS in the context of sex, age, and dose. Statistical analysis was done using the Student's t-test to determine statistically significant differences between ages among myocarditis adverse events (AEs) and the chi-square test to determine relationships between categorical variables with statistical significance. Results We found the number of myocarditis reports in VAERS after COVID-19 vaccination in 2021 was 223 times higher than the average of all vaccines combined for the past 30 years. This represented a 2500% increase in the absolute number of reports in the first year of the campaign when comparing historical values prior to 2021. Demographic data revealed that myocarditis occurred most in youths (50%) and males (69%). A total of 76% of cases resulted in emergency care and hospitalization. Of the total myocarditis reports, 92 individuals died (3%). Myocarditis was more likely after dose 2 (p < 0.00001) and individuals less than 30 years of age were more likely than individuals older than 30 to acquire myocarditis (p < 0.00001). Conclusion COVID-19 vaccination is strongly associated with a serious adverse safety signal of myocarditis, particularly in children and young adults resulting in hospitalization and death. Further investigation into the underlying mechanisms of COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis is imperative to create effective mitigation strategies and ensure the safety of COVID-19 vaccination programs across populations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicolas Hulscher
- University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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Alami A, Villeneuve PJ, Farrell PJ, Mattison D, Farhat N, Haddad N, Wilson K, Gravel CA, Crispo JAG, Perez-Lloret S, Krewski D. Myocarditis and Pericarditis Post-mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination: Insights from a Pharmacovigilance Perspective. J Clin Med 2023; 12:4971. [PMID: 37568373 PMCID: PMC10419493 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12154971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2023] [Revised: 07/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Concerns remain regarding the rare cardiovascular adverse events, myocarditis and pericarditis (myo/pericarditis), particularly in younger individuals following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. Our study aimed to comprehensively assess potential safety signals related to these cardiac events following the primary and booster doses, with a specific focus on younger populations, including children as young as 6 months of age. Using the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), the United States national passive surveillance system, we conducted a retrospective pharmacovigilance study analyzing spontaneous reports of myo/pericarditis. We employed both frequentist and Bayesian methods and conducted subgroup analyses by age, sex, and vaccine dose. We observed a higher reporting rate of myo/pericarditis following the primary vaccine series, particularly in males and mainly after the second dose. However, booster doses demonstrated a lower number of reported cases, with no significant signals detected after the fourth or fifth doses. In children and young adults, we observed notable age and sex differences in the reporting of myo/pericarditis cases. Males in the 12-17 and 18-24-year-old age groups had the highest number of cases, with significant signals for both males and females after the second dose. We also identified an increased reporting for a spectrum of cardiovascular symptoms such as chest pain and dyspnea, which increased with age, and were reported more frequently than myo/pericarditis. The present study identified signals of myo/pericarditis and related cardiovascular symptoms after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, especially among children and adolescents. These findings underline the importance for continued vaccine surveillance and the need for further studies to confirm these results and to determine their clinical implications in public health decision-making, especially for younger populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdallah Alami
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada (N.F.)
- McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
| | - Paul J. Villeneuve
- Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
| | - Patrick J. Farrell
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada (N.F.)
| | - Donald Mattison
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
- Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, ON K1P 5J6, Canada
- Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
| | - Nawal Farhat
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada (N.F.)
| | - Nisrine Haddad
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
| | - Kumanan Wilson
- Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada
- Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, ON K1R 6M1, Canada
- Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4E9, Canada
| | - Christopher A. Gravel
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1Y7, Canada
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
| | - James A. G. Crispo
- Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada
- Division of Human Sciences, NOSM University, Sudbury, ON P3E2C6, Canada
| | - Santiago Perez-Lloret
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires C1033AAJ, Argentina
- Observatorio de Salud Pública, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires C1107AAZ, Argentina
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1121ABG, Argentina
| | - Daniel Krewski
- McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada
- Risk Sciences International, Ottawa, ON K1P 5J6, Canada
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