Association between vaccination and MI, stroke after COVID-19 infection

Editor's Note

This Korean study finds that full COVID-19 vaccination was associated with a reduced risk of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke after being infected with COVID-19.

Of 592,719 patients with COVID-19 during the study period, 231,037 were included in the analysis, of whom 62,727 were never vaccinated and 168,310 were fully vaccinated.

The composite outcome of hospitalization for MI and stroke at 31 to 120 days after COVID-19 diagnosis occurred in 31 unvaccinated and 74 fully vaccinated patients, for an incidence of 6.18 vs 5.49 per 1 million person days.

The adjusted risk was significantly lower in the fully vaccinated group (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.42). The adjusted risk also was significantly lower in fully vaccinated patients for both MI (aHR, 0.48) and stroke (aHR, 0.40).

A lower risk for events in fully vaccinated was found in all subgroups, though some were not statistically significant.

The findings support COVID-19 vaccination, especially for those with cardiovascular disease risk factors, the researchers say.