ICMR study says no link between sudden deaths and Covid shots
Covid-19 vaccines did not increase the risk of sudden death among young adults in India, according to an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study, which added that the spate of sudden deaths reported post Covid among young adults in India can be attributed to past-Covid hospitalisation, family history of sudden deaths, binge drinking, and intense unaccustomed activity.
The peer-reviewed study titled ‘Factors associated with unexplained sudden deaths among adults aged 18-45 years in India – a multicentric matched case-control study’ involved the participation of 47 tertiary care hospitals across the country. The results have been published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research. Anecdotal reports of deaths in among people – including some famous ones – had given rise to a narrative that vaccines were somehow responsible.
“These deaths raised concerns that these cases might be related to Covid-19 infection, or Covid vaccination. The study was conducted to investigate the contributing factors,” said ICMR in a statement.
Seven hundred twenty nine cases and 2,916 others (the control group) were included in the analysis. Cases were hospitalised individuals aged 18-45 years without any known co-morbidity, who suddenly – within 24 hours of hospitalization – died of unexplained causes between October 2021 and March 2023.
“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. There were two groups, cases and control — data for cases was taken from hospitals and for control we went within the community looking for healthy individuals. Covid vaccination was not found to be the contributing factor for sudden deaths; if at all, vaccination may have actually prevented deaths. There are likely other contributing factors that have been duly listed in the paper,” said Manoj Murhekar, director, ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, and corresponding author of the study.