26 Dec 2025 • Patients with myocarditis faced a substantially higher risk of developing autoimmune or immune-mediated diseases than the general population, new data showed.

Key Findings:

• In a study of 2,671 individuals with first-time myocarditis and more than 13,000 matched controls, the 10-year cumulative incidence of autoimmune disease was 7.2% in the myocarditis group vs 2.9% in controls. - - Risk was most pronounced early, with a more than ten-fold increase within the first 180 days after myocarditis (aHR 10.29), but remained elevated long term, exceeding two-fold beyond six months of follow-up (HR 2.45) over a median of 9.4 years.
• Women were disproportionately affected, with 10.7% developing autoimmune disease within 10 years compared with 4.4% of female controls; corresponding rates in men were 5.6% and 2.2%.
• All-cause mortality was also higher, with 10-year death rates of 26.7% after myocarditis vs 13.0% in controls.

Source: BMJ | Read full story