incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis in post COVID-19 unvaccinated patients

Abstract

Background and Aim: Viral infections have also been associated with the presence of autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes mellitus. SARS-CoV-2 gains entry into human cells by binding its spike protein to the membrane protein angiotensinconverting enzyme 2 (ACE2). It has recently been reported that the incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis is increased in COVID-19 patients during the acute illness. However; whether or not myocarditis and pericarditis after the recovery period are a part of the long COVID-19 syndrome is yet unknown. Hence, we studied the incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis in COVID-19 patients after recovering from the acute infection. Material and Methods: We retrieved records of all adult patients (age ≥ 18 years) who had a documented positive COVID-19 PCR test (n = 500) for the period of 1 year. A control group was created from a cohort of adult patients with at least one negative COVID-19 From this pool of patients, the control cohort was created by 3:1 matching of age (±2 years) and gender. Total 1000 patients in control group were selected.