Fariba Yazdanpanah

The University of Texas at Tyler,
United States of America

Abstract Title: Cardiac Arrhythmias after Covid-19 Vaccination: A Secondary Analysis of Reported Cases

Biography:

Dr. Fariba Yazdanpanah is a General Preventive Medicine and Public Health resident at the University of Texas at Tyler Health Science Center with more than 15 years of experience in clinical medicine and research. She is also board-certified in Cardiology by Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Dr. Yazdanpanah is committed to advancing patient safety and quality of care through the integration of preventive and curative approaches. Her work focuses on developing innovative healthcare strategies and conducting impactful, cutting-edge clinical research within academic and healthcare systems.

Research Interest:

Background: Case reports and case series have documented cardiac rhythm disturbances after COVID-19 vaccination, but systematic descriptions remain rare. This abstract aimed to map the distribution of documented heart rhythm abnormalities post-COVID-19 vaccination.

Methods: A secondary quantitative analysis of published case reports and case series of post-COVID-19 vaccination rhythm abnormalities in 2022 included 35 cases. Arrhythmias were classified as benign brady- and tachyarrhythmias, life-threatening disturbances, or cardiac dysautonomia, including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Descriptive and inferential analyses assessed associations of arrhythmias with demographics and vaccine type.

Results: Among the 35 reported cases, the most frequent presentation was cardiac dysautonomia (51%, 18/35), followed by benign tachyarrhythmias (29%, 10/35), life-threatening rhythm disturbances (17%, 6/35), and benign bradyarrhythmias (11%, 4/35). Some patients experienced more than one type of rhythm abnormality. The majority of cases occurred in males (66%) and in adults aged 21-40 years (74%). The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the most commonly reported in rhythm disturbance cases (77%). No statistically significant associations were observed between arrhythmia category and vaccine type, age group, or sex. Logistic regression analysis identified no independent predictors of life-threatening arrhythmias; although individuals aged ≤40 years demonstrated a higher odds ratio, this association did not reach statistical significance (OR?=?2.8, p?=?0.18).

Conclusions: The literature documents heterogeneous cases of arrhythmias after receiving COVID-19 vaccines, most commonly presenting as cardiac dysautonomia. Lethal arrhythmias were rare and showed no association with vaccine type, gender, or age, though young adults were disproportionately affected. Further studies with adequate power are needed to substantiate these findings.