Increased cardiovascular emergencies during vaccine rollout

Using a unique dataset from Israel National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) from 2019 to 2021, an increase of over 25% was detected in both cardiac arrest (CA) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) EMS calls during January–May 2021, compared with the years 2019–2020. 

This study leveraged the Israel National EMS (IEMS) data system and analyzed all calls related to CA and ACS events over two and a half years, from January 1st, 2019, throughout June 20th, 2021. Using Negative Binomial regression models, the weekly emergency call counts were significantly associated with the rates of 1st and 2nd vaccine doses administered to this age group but were not with COVID-19 infection rates. 

These findings are emphasized by Figures that present the graphs described in the “Methods” section for both CA and ACS, CA only, and ACS only, respectively. Both the CA and ACS call counts (red curve) start increasing early January 2021 and seem to track closely the 2nd dose curve (solid blue curve). They peak around early March and then decrease during March and the first part of April (Figs. 1B and 2B). The graphs also highlight the lack of association between the COVID-19 infection counts (grey curve) and the CA and ACS call counts, which is most clearly seen during the first two major infection waves in 2020.

READ MORE


REFERENCE

Sun, C.L.F., Jaffe, E. & Levi, R. Increased emergency cardiovascular events among under-40 population in Israel during vaccine rollout and third COVID-19 wave. Sci Rep 12, 6978 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10928-z

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A New Onset of Ulcerative Colitis post-2nd-breakthrough-COVID-19

Image
A 21-year-old non-smoking Caucasian male with a history of acute pancreatitis but no other medical issues or family history had two doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.  Four months after the second dose he had his first episode of COVID-19. Although not hypoxic, he felt pretty unwell for a week, with a severe cough, fever, generalized body ache, headache, and loss of taste. He received the third dose of the vaccine two months after recovering from COVID. Nine months after the third dose, he had the second episode of COVID-19, during which he was mildly unwell for three days, recovered, and did not require any anti-viral medication or antibiotics. One week post the second episode of COVID-19, he developed diarrhea and abdominal pain. It then progressed to bloody diarrhea. Ulcerative colitis was diagnosed based on his clinical symptoms, biopsy changes, and the exclusion of other causes.  There are ten published case reports about the newly diagnosed ulcerative colitis associate
Read more

COVID in May

Image
Concerns about a potential resurgence of COVID-19 are mounting as summer 2024 approaches.  This is driven by several indicators, including social media posts, healthcare data, and wastewater surveillance across different regions. Our study findings corroborate this trend.  While many forecasters anticipate a surge, others expect a gradual increase through the end of May, and then a decline again around early June. Reports from social media suggest emerging clusters of COVID-19 in Texas, several Canadian provinces, the UK, and on cruises in northern regions such as a Norwegian cruise to Alaska.  Data from Alberta's Respiratory virus dashboard   (total weekly laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases) and wastewater surveillance in Calgary indicate an uptick in COVID-19 cases starting April 2024. The most recent statistics from Alberta Health reveal a significant increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19, with 114 individuals currently hospitalized—an increase of more than 20% over two
Read more

Chronic SARS-CoV-2 Shedding

Image
Chronic viral shedding, a condition where the virus continues to be released from an individual's body long after the initial infection, has been observed in many infectious diseases, including COVID-19.  In such cases, individuals may remain asymptomatic or experience only mild symptoms while the virus persists. It remains detectable in repeated tests over an extended period and can still infect others even in nasal swab is negative (which happens quite often ). This was evident in our study.    Recent research by Conway et al. (2024) highlights the possibility of chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection, extending over several months and potentially years. Other studies have documented prolonged asymptomatic infections and extended viral shedding in moderate to severe beyond hospital discharge. Analysis of sequencing data on UK samples taken between 2 November 2020 and 15 August 2022 lead to estimates that 0.1–0.5% of infections may become persistent with typically rebounding high viral load
Read more