A new study has found that there is a higher prevalence of heart scarring in teenage and young males following the COVID-19 mRNA ‘vaccination’.

The latest findings, published in EClinicalMedicine, have raised concerns about the long-term outcomes despite mild initial symptoms of vaccine-associated myocarditis.

MSN reports: The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines has been instrumental in controlling the spread and severity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections and mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic.

One type of COVID-19 vaccine used widely in the U.S. was the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine, in which a copy of the viral mRNA that encodes a viral protein, such as the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, is used to trigger a long-lasting immune response.

One of the rare complications of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is myocarditis, especially in the pediatric population. Furthermore, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) images involving late gadolinium enhancement or LGE are being used increasingly to study the chronic scarring and myocardial injury that occurs in cases of childhood myocarditis.

While the implications and overall prognosis for myocardial injury linked to C-VAM in young patients are unclear, LGE is believed to be associated with a high risk of arrhythmia, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and even cardiac death.

About the study

In the present study, the researchers examined the cardiac characteristics of C-VAM based on LGE observed in CRM images and evaluated the clinical features and cardiovascular outcomes of C-VAM in a cohort of young adults, adolescents, and children.

This retrospective observational study was conducted in 38 institutions in the U.S. It involved individuals below the age of 30 years who were diagnosed with acute myocarditis after they received the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

The diagnosis of acute myocarditis was based on abnormal biomarkers, clinical symptoms, and cardiovascular imaging. The study excluded any individuals with alternate causes for the myocarditis diagnosis.

The researchers obtained demographic data, medical history, and hospital records of the participants. The participants were characterized into younger and older age groups corresponding to between 5 and 15 years and between 16 and 30 years, respectively, based on the vaccine roll-out phases.