In a telephone interview recently with Dr. Leslie Cooper, regarding the updated frequency of the Global Myocarditis Burden, he explained that while the numbers appear to have gone down it is due to the revision on how myocarditis is calculated.
Myocarditis can be difficult to distinguish from other forms of cardiomyopathy in areas that rely on clinical presentation and echocardiography for diagnosis, suggesting imprecision in diagnosis within the larger category of cardiomyopathy. The calculation now removed non-specific cardiomyopathy cases and make the numbers more specific for straight forward myocarditis.
So basically, the 2019 Global Burden of Myocarditis is 1 million cases, or a prevalence rate of 9.1 per 100,000.
The rates of myocarditis vary by region with higher rates seen in parts of Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Myocarditis can be difficult to distinguish from other forms of cardiomyopathy in areas that rely on clinical presentation and echocardiography for diagnosis, suggesting imprecision in diagnosis within the larger category of cardiomyopathy.
Myocarditis is responsible for sudden cardiovascular death in approximately 2% of infants, 5% of children, and 5% to 14% of young athletes.
