People infected with COVID-19 face a higher risk of myocarditis and other inflammatory heart diseases than those vaccinated against the disease, according to a large study published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC found that among men and women 5 years and older, the risk of myocarditis, pericarditis, and multisystem inflammatory syndrome after Covid infection was higher than the risk after Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. However, these heart attacks are rare after infection and vaccination, according to the CDC.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, pericarditis is inflammation of the outer layer of the heart. Multisystemic inflammation is a disease associated with Covid infection that affects multiple organ systems.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were associated with an increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis after the second dose, especially in boys ages 12 to 17. However, even in this group, the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis is higher after novel coronavirus infection than after vaccination, according to the CDC.
Among teenage boys, the incidence of post-infected myocarditis, or pericarditis, was at least 50 cases per 100,000, compared with at least 22 cases per 100,000 after the second dose of vaccine. Compared with the second dose, the overall risk of heart disease after COVID-19 infection was up to 5.6 times. Compared with the first injection, the risk was up to 69 times higher after infection.