Published online Oct 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i28.10109
Peer-review started: May 30, 2022
First decision: July 14, 2022
Revised: July 20, 2022
Accepted: September 1, 2022
Article in press: September 1, 2022
Published online: October 6, 2022
Processing time: 119 Days and 23.9 Hours
Vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) include ChAdOx1-SARS-COV-2 (AstraZeneca), Ad26.COV2.S (Janssen), mRNA-1273 (Moderna), BNT162b2 (Pfizer), BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm), CoronaVac (Sinovac), and Bharat Biotech BBV152 (Covaxin).
To find the association between COVID-19 vaccines and myocardial infarction (MI).
This is a systematic review that involved searching databases such as MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PakMediNet after making a search strategy using MeSH and Emtree terms. Eligibility criteria were set, and studies having no mention of MI as a complication of COVID-19 vaccination, protocols, genetic studies, and animal studies were excluded. Data was extracted using a predesigned extraction table, and 29 studies were selected after screening and applying the eligibility criteria.
The majority of studies mentioned AstraZeneca (18 studies) followed by Pfizer (14 studies) and Moderna (9 studies) in subjects reporting MI after vaccination. Out of all the studies, 69% reported MI cases after the first COVID-19 vaccination dose and 14% after the second, 44% reported ST-segment elevation MI, and 26% reported non-ST-segment elevation MI. The mortality rate was 29% after MI.
In conclusion, many studies linked MI to COVID-19 vaccinations, but no definitive association could be found.
Core Tip: Mechanisms like vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia and myocarditis complication have been identified in the literature linking myocardial infarction with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. The majority of myocardial infarction cases reported were after vaccination with the vaccine from AstraZeneca, were ST-segment elevation, and were reported after first dose of vaccine. Although there are reports of myocardial infarction after COVID-19 vaccination, no definitive link was found in the previous literature linking the two.