The risk of sudden cardiac death in young women more than tripled following an AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot, according to a study using England’s official data published on Monday.
Vahé Nafilyan, senior statistician at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said researchers found “receiving a first dose of a non-mRNA vaccine was associated with an increased risk of cardiac death in young women.”
There was no evidence that the risk of death in young people increased following vaccination with mRNA shots, such as those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
The ONS compared deaths of people aged between 12 and 29 that occurred within 12 weeks of COVID-19 vaccination—the so-called risk period—to those that occurred at all times after the risk period, to estimate the risk of death following vaccination.
After cross-referencing the deaths with records of COVID-19 vaccination and test results, the ONS said there had been “no significant increase in cardiac or all-cause mortality” within 12 weeks of receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
However, a breakdown of data showed that the risk of cardiac death among young women was three times higher in the 12 weeks following any dose of non-mRNA vaccination, compared with the longer-term risk.
When only the first dose was included, young women’s risk of cardiac death become 3.5 times higher within 12 weeks of vaccination.
But the ONS also noted that the subgroup who received non-mRNA vaccines “was more likely to be clinically vulnerable and may be at greater risk of adverse events following vaccination than the general population.”
It also said the absolute number of deaths was small.
“According to the statistical model, 11 out of the 15 cardiac deaths in young women that occurred within 12 weeks of a first dose of a non-mRNA vaccine were likely to be linked to the vaccine; this corresponds to 6 cardiac-related deaths per 100,000 females vaccinated with at least a first dose of a non-mRNA vaccine,” the ONS said.
By Lily Zhou
