Can the Pfizer vaccine cause heart inflammation? A study conducted in Hong Kong confirms that the risk exists even if it is very low.
- Carditis is an inflammation of the heart often linked to a bacterial or viral infection
- The risk of carditis after an anti-Covid vaccination with the Pfizer product is higher in men after the second injection
The risk of developing myocarditis or pericarditis after an anti-Covid vaccination with the Pfizer product is very low in absolute value. But it is nonetheless real. A study published in Annals of Internal Medicine emphasizes that vaccinated people are three times more likely to develop inflammation of heart tissue than non-vaccinated people.
This study conducted in Hong Kong involved 160 patients with carditis and 1,533 healthy patients to examine the potential risk associated with anti-Covid vaccines. And his results show that twenty cases of carditis were associated with the Pfizer vaccine, which represents a risk 3.57 times higher in comparison with non-vaccinated persons of a comparable profile.
Inflammation of the heart
Carditis is an inflammation of the heart that can be caused by bacterial, viral or parasitic infections. The most common types are myocarditis which affects the heart muscle itself or pericarditis which affects the outer lining of the heart.
The work carried out by researchers at the University of Hong Kong also shows that this increased risk of carditis linked to the Pfizer vaccine mainly concerns men after the injection of the second dose: it is 4.68 times higher for these last against 2.22 times for women.
0.57 cases per 100,000 doses
In a context where this risk of cardiac inflammation is highlighted in the controversies over anti-Covid vaccination campaigns, the authors of this study emphasize that the absolute risk remains very low. They recall that the incidence of carditis after vaccination is 0.57 per 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and that none of the twenty cases of pericarditis observed during their work resulted in death or even hospitalization in intensive care. while 12 deaths and 133 hospitalizations were recorded in the group of unvaccinated patients.
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