The following is a summary of “Myocarditis incidence and hospital mortality from 2007 to 2022: insights from a nationwide registry,” published in the August 2024 issue of Cardiology by Rottmann et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate the disease burden of myocarditis in Germany and compare myocarditis with and without COVID-19.

They included all patients hospitalized with myocarditis in Germany. Data were obtained from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (DESTATIS) covering 2007 to 2022. The primary outcome measure was hospital mortality.

The results showed 88,159 patients with myocarditis. Annual cases rose from 5,100 in 2007 to 6,593 in 2022 (P<0.001 for trend), with higher rates in winter. Incidence per 100,000 inhabitants increased from 6.2 in 2007 to 7.8 in 2022 (P<0.001 for trend). Hospital mortality remained steady at 2.44% on average (P=0.164 for trend). Between 2020 and 2022, 1547 out of 16,229 (9.53%) patients had both myocarditis and COVID-19 (incidence 0.62/100,000 inhabitants and 180/100,000 hospitalizations with COVID-19). The patients showed significant differences in most characteristics and had a higher hospital mortality rate compared to those with myocarditis alone (12.54% vs. 2.26%, respectively, P<0.001).

Investigators concluded that myocarditis hospitalizations were rising slowly over 16 years with stable mortality, while combined myocarditis and COVID-19 had low incidence but high mortality.

Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00392-024-02494-3