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Mississippi Study Indicates COVID Vaccines Reduce Myocarditis Risk
A study analyzing the rates of myocarditis in Mississippi before and during the COVID-19 era indicated that COVID vaccines helped reduce the heightened myocarditis risk caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection.
At the start of COVID-19 vaccinations, myocarditis rates in Mississippi dropped 14% from pre-vaccination COVID-induced myocarditis rates. The Mississippi-based study was published by a researcher at Jackson State University in the International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications.
Austine U. Onyia, DrPH(C), from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, collected data from the Mississippi State Department of Health, analyzing myocarditis rates between 2016 and 2019 and between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. The study focused on the proportion of myocarditis hospitalizations among all hospitalizations.
The data revealed that, before the pandemic, between 2016 and 2019, there was an annual average of 65 hospitalizations for myocarditis in Mississippi, amounting to 17 myocarditis hospitalizations per 100,000 hospitalizations during this era.
By 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of myocarditis hospitalizations rose to 118, an 18% increase from pre-pandemic rates. More explicitly, for every 100,000 hospitalizations in Mississippi, 34 were hospitalizations for myocarditis.
Additional comparisons revealed that 62% of COVID-19 patients had myocarditis; however, with increased vaccination rates in the first quarter of 2021, the rate dropped by 14% to 48%.
Beyond data on the changes in myocarditis rates statewide, Onyia explored how rates differed across varying patient demographics. For example, his research found that adults 65 years and older had a significantly higher risk of myocarditis, accounting for over half of hospitalization but less than 15% of all COVID-19 cases during this time.
“Understanding the trend of myocarditis and its association with COVID-19 will strengthen the health promotion on vaccination and other COVID-19 prevention strategies. This knowledge will help reduce vaccine hesitancy, improve COVID-19 vaccination rates, and consequently minimize the health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of Mississippi,” noted Onyia in the study.
“Though myocarditis events were not reported following randomized vaccine trials for the COVID-19 vaccines, there is a need for continued monitoring and surveillance, especially since th
