ICMR Study Debunks COVID-19 Vaccine-Sudden Death Link, Identifies Key Risk Factors

Stating facts from an ICMR study, the health minister informed about the findings of the ICMR study that mentioned past Covid hospitalisation, family history of sudden death and certain lifestyle behaviours increased the likelihood of unexplained sudden deaths among the youth.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) explored two approaches to investigate the causes of sudden death. The first was a retrospective case-control study to determine the risk factors associated with sudden death and the second approach was to prospectively investigate sudden deaths in young adults using a virtual autopsy approach.

Responding to a question, Nadda said, information was collected regarding data on COVID-19 vaccination/infection, post-COVID conditions, family history of sudden death, smoking, recreational drug use, alcohol frequency, binge drinking and vigorous-intensity physical activity two days before death among the cases or interviewed controls.

As per the health minister, receiving two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine significantly reduced the odds of unexplained sudden death.

Among the reasons that increased the odds of sudden death were past COVID-19 hospitalisation, family history of sudden death, binge drinking 48 hours before death/interview, use of recreational drug/substance and performing vigorous-intensity physical activity 48 hours before death/interview.

Experts also revealed that the role of underlying health issues, genetic predisposition and risky lifestyle choices does play a role in the unexplained sudden deaths.