the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Pfizer-BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is associated with an increased risk of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), but infection with the virus is associated with a much greater risk of the condition, according to a real-world case-control study published on August 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers analyzed the health records of more than 2 million people who are members of the Clalit Health Services (CHS), the largest healthcare organization in Israel. Vaccination was associated with a 3-fold increase in the risk of myocarditis (risk ratio [RR], 3.24, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.55-12.44), as well as several other conditions including swollen lymph nodes (RR, 2.43; 95% CI, 2.05 to 2.78), appendicitis (RR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.01), and herpes zoster infection (RR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.73).
