Sex differences in outcomes after acute coronary syndrome vary with age: a New Zealand national study.

AIMS: This study investigated age-specific sex differences in short- and long-term clinical outcomes following hospitalization for a first-time acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in New Zealand (NZ). METHODS AND RESULTS: Using linked national health datasets, people admitted to hospital for a first-time ACS between January 2010 and December 2016 were included. Analyses were stratified by sex and 10-year age groups. Logistic and Cox regression were used to assess in-hospital death and from discharge the primary outcome of time to first cardiovascular (CV) readmission or death and other secondary outcomes at 30 days and 2 years. Among 63 245 people (mean age 69 years, 40% women), women were older than men at the time of the ACS admission (mean age 73 vs. 66 years), with a higher comorbidity burden. Overall compared with men, women experienced higher rates of unadjusted in-hospital death (10% vs. 7%), 30-day (16% vs. 12%) and 2-year (44% vs. 34%) death, or CV readmission (all P < 0.001). Age group-specific analyses showed sex differences in outcomes varied with age, with younger women (<65 years) at higher risk than men and older women (≥85 years) at lower risk than men: unadjusted hazard ratio of 2-year death or CV readmission for women aged 18-44 years = 1.51 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.21-1.84] and aged ≥85 years = 0.88 (95% CI 0.83-0.93). The increased risk for younger women was no longer significant after multivariable adjustment whereas the increased risk for older men remained. CONCLUSION: Men and women admitted with first-time ACS have differing age and comorbidity profiles, resulting in contrasting age-specific sex differences in the risk of adverse outcomes between the youngest and oldest age groups.

Case report: mRNA COVID-19 vaccine-related acute pericarditis with evolution to myopericarditis.

Background: Both acute pericarditis and myocarditis have been reported as rare complications following vaccination with the Pfizer-Biotech and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Case summary: An 18-year-old man presented with clinical and electrocardiographic changes of acute pericarditis 2 days after receiving the second dose of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine. His electrocardiogram also showed an incomplete right bundle branch block. Troponin T on presentation was normal (reference <14 ng/L) but subsequently increased to a peak 1080 ng/L by day 4 post vaccination. Evolving electrocardiographic changes and cardiac MRI findings were consistent with acute myopericarditis. Discussion: This patient's clinical course was uncomplicated, which is consistent with studies indicating that post-COVID vaccine myocarditis usually has a mild course with a low chance of arrhythmia or heart failure. Troponin elevation is a part of the diagnostic criteria for myocarditis. This case is consistent with another report demonstrating that troponin levels can be within the normal range early in the clinical course of post-COVID vaccine myopericarditis. The incomplete right bundle branch block resolved by day 4 post-vaccination and thus may have represented early myocardial involvement at presentation. Further testing and monitoring should be considered in patients who present soon after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination with pericarditis features or minor conduction delays, in order to rule out progression to myopericarditis. Identifying myocardial involvement is clinically relevant as it indicates a risk of developing arrhythmia or heart failure, as well as having implications for physical activity advice and future booster vaccination.