Young people recover quickly from rare COVID vaccine side effect, study suggests
Some young people ages 21 and younger who developed a form of heart inflammation suspected to have come from the COVID-19 vaccine tend to have mild conditions and recover quickly, according to new research described by officials from Intermountain Healthcare this week.
The new study, published earlier this week in the American Heart Association's journal "Circulation," compared data and medical records from patients at 26 pediatric medical centers across the U.S., including in Utah, and found that one in five patients were admitted to intensive care units, largely with the same symptoms, but none had died and most were released after two or three days.
“As the covid vaccine came out worldwide, early on we started to hear reports in the spring of cases of heart inflammation or myocarditis,” said Dongngan T. Truong, MD, associate professor of pediatrics in the division of cardiology at the University of Utah Health and a pediatric cardiologist at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, in a press conference about the study on Wednesday.
As the vaccine became more widely available to younger populations, Intermountain became more aware of cases “here and there," Truong said. They began using cardiac MRI’s which look at the tissue of the heart.
The majority of patients, more than 90%, were male, and nearly every case was diagnosed after the patient had received an mRNA vaccine. Chest pain was the most common symptom, found in more than 99% of patients, while about a third of patients also experienced fever or shortness of breath.
“We were typically seeing this myocarditis after the second dose of vaccine and symptoms typically occurred within a week of that second dose, most often even within a few days,” Truong said.
The onset of symptoms occurred at a median of two days after the vaccine was administered.
“Recovery in the hospital was quite short with minimal medication to treat the myocarditis,” Truong said.
Participating researchers are expected to follow patients who suffered myocarditis over a longer term and report findings as more data is made available.
Troung said he would be following Utah patients to monitor any more permanent effects that might occur. Myocarditis is not specific to COVID vaccines, and was a common side effect of the smallpox vaccine in the past.
“I think the information can be used to counsel families who are vaccinated or considering vaccinating their children," Truong said. "It's important for providers, medical providers, those in the emergency department, pediatricians, or family doctors know what to look out for."
Elle Cabrera covers breaking news and topics. Please help us to continue producing this content at thespectrum.com/subscribe.
This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Study of Utah youths with myocarditis after COVID vaccines shows mild symptoms
