The Epidemiology of Fulminant Myocarditis

Fulminant myocarditis is the most severe form of acute myocarditis and can contribute to the burden of fatal cardiovascular complications, causing cardiogenic shock, lethal arrhythmia, multi-organ failure, and death. Studies on the incidence of fulminant myocarditis have shown that it is a sporadic, less common, but never rare disease. It varies regionally, but is present worldwide in both developed and developing countries. To date, there has been a substantial absence of epidemiologic data on fulminant myocarditis, because it is difficult to obtain the true morbidity of this disease and many patients die before a clear diagnosis is reached due to its extremely fast disease process. However, there remains to be a few of studies and analyses on this topic in literature. In this chapter we summarize and describe the epidemiology of fulminant myocarditis, mainly based on early data on fatal myocarditis.