Post-COVID-19 hospitalisation, family history of sudden deaths, binge drinking, and intense unaccustomed activity and not COVID-19 vaccines may be contributing to the increased risk of sudden death among young adults in the country, an Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) peer-reviewed study notes.
Titled ‘Factors associated with unexplained sudden deaths among adults aged 18-45 years in India – a multicentric matched case-control study’, it was published and released recently in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
The study registered the participation of 47 tertiary care hospitals across the country. The Council said that these deaths raised concerns that cases might be related to COVID-19 infection or vaccination. The study was conducted to investigate the contributing factors, it maintained.
In all 729 cases and 2,916 others (the control group) were included in the analysis. Cases were of hospitalised individuals aged 18-45 years without any known co-morbidity, who suddenly – within 24 hours of hospitalisation – died of unexplained causes between October 2021 and March 2023.
The study found that most sudden deaths were due to cardiac reasons, but may not have been the result of a cardiac arrest, which is why we called them sudden deaths. “COVID vaccination was not found to be the contributing factor for sudden deaths; if at all, vaccination may have prevented deaths,” said Manoj Murhekar, director, ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, and corresponding author of the study.
The primary objective of vaccination remains the prevention of severe COVID-19 outcomes. While adverse events, particularly thromboembolic (obstruction of blood vessel) events, have been documented post-COVID-19 vaccination, limited evidence suggests protection against all-cause mortality across various age groups, according to the study.
Published - November 21, 2023 02:24 pm IST
