Covid-19 could be a powerful risk factor for heart attacks and strokes for as long as three years after an infection, a large new study suggests.
The study was published Wednesday in the medical journal Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. It relied on medical records from roughly a quarter of a million people who were enrolled in a large database called the UK Biobank.
Comments closedThe Government of Canada’s website tracks the number of hospitalizations and deaths from acute COVID-19. What it fails to include are the hospitalizations and deaths that result from COVID’s longer-term health consequences.
Even mild cases carry risk, but COVID most frequently wallops people after severe cases, especially when hospitalized. Of the nearly 300,000 Canadians hospitalized so far, over half likely have — or will — suffer life-changing health consequences, sometimes years after having recovered from the acute illness. These risks climb with repeated infections.
Hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 are often delayed. Like high blood pressure, SARS CoV-2 can gradually damage the inner lining of blood vessels. This by itself, is painless. While it happens to people following mild cases of COVID, it’s far more likely after severe ones, especially after hospitalization. This doubles the downstream risk of having a heart attack, stroke or blood clot in the lung. It triples the risk of developing an abnormal heart rhythm, including atrial fibrillation.
Comments closedEven as national institutions struggle to coordinate meaningful trials for possible long COVID treatments, researchers continue to tally the damage. New findings suggest that the disease’s reach isn’t merely long—it’s still growing.
Three years after their initial bouts with COVID-19, patients who’d once been hospitalized with the virus remained at “significantly elevated” risk of death or worsening health from long COVID complications, according to a paper published May 30 in Nature Medicine.
Even among those whose initial cases didn’t require a hospital stay, the threat of long COVID and several of its associated issues remained real, the researchers found. And cumulatively, at three years, long COVID results in 91 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) per 1,000 people—DALYs being a measure of years lost to poor health or premature death. That is a higher incidence than either heart disease or cancer.
Comments closedA new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows there is no evidence to suggest COVID vaccines cause sudden cardiac death or other fatal heart problems in young people.
Comments closedCOVID-19 became the second leading cause of death globally in the year after it was declared a pandemic, according to a study published in the Lancet.
While heart disease remained the top killer, COVID “radically altered” the main five causes of death for the first time in 30 years, displacing stroke, the publication said. In 2021, 94 in every 100,000 people died from COVID, on an age-standardized basis.
Comments closedCOVID-19 is a respiratory disease. Yet, from the earliest days of the pandemic, the cardiovascular risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection were clear: individuals with severe cases of COVID-19 often died from cardiovascular complications, and those with pre-existing cardiovascular disease were more likely to have severe illness or die.
In short, the cardiovascular system has played a central role in COVID-19 since the beginning.
It is not surprising that as debate over COVID-19 and vaccines flared that cardiovascular disease was a central issue. Those opposed to vaccination often make claims of cardiovascular risks that exceed any benefits. But when data on COVID-19, vaccines and cardiovascular health are reviewed, the conclusions are clear: vaccines are safe and effective at reducing the cardiovascular complications that are a hallmark of COVID-19.
Queenslanders are flooding GPs practices with heart problems sparked by long Covid, the state’s peak medical body has revealed.
Doctors are seeing more patients with myocarditis and pericarditis due to inflammation caused by the virus that can cause palpitations chest pain or shortness of breath.
Comments closedComments closedFive years, 10 years, 20 years from now, what are we going to see in terms of cardiac impairment, pulmonary impairment, neurologic impairment? It’s year five in the pandemic, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about it.
After contracting COVID-19, patients may have higher risk of heart failure from persistent viral infection in their hearts, even without developing notable heart disease, according to study results announced by Japanese researchers on Dec. 23.
The team including researchers from Riken, Japan’s largest scientific institute, pointed out the possibility of a “heart failure pandemic” in the near future, and is stressing the need for countermeasures.
Comments closedThe severity of the infection doesn’t seem to make a difference. These complications can occur even in people who have very mild symptoms. The big surprise is how much this can affect younger people. Studies are showing that even young, active people can experience heightened risk of these complications.
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity: These are some of the well-known risk factors that can put people at heightened risk for heart attack and stroke.
Now some health experts say COVID-19 should be added to that list.
Comments closedOn December 23, a research team from Riken and other institutes announced the results of a study showing that after infection with the novel coronavirus, the heart may be persistently infected with the virus and the risk of heart failure may increase, even if the patient does not develop noticeable heart disease. The team points to the possibility of a sharp increase in the number of heart failure patients in the near future and calls for countermeasures to be taken.
Infection with the novel coronavirus occurs when a protruding “spike protein” on the surface of the virus binds to the ACE2 receptor on the surface of human cells. According to the team, the heart is more likely to express ACE2 compared to other organs. It has also been reported that some people infected with the novel coronavirus have reduced cardiac function, but the detailed mechanism is not known.
Comments closedAccording to a small case-control study today in Scientific Reports, long COVID can affect heart rate variability (HRV) at rest and during deep breathing, adding to the evidence that persistent symptoms of the virus can be associated with cardiac and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (dysautonomia). This system regulates involuntary functions like heartbeat, blood pressure, and sweating.
The study, conducted by Brazilian researchers, included 21 patients with long COVID and 20 controls. Long COVID—defined by the authors as new or persistent symptoms experienced 12 or more weeks after infection—has been associated with heart palpitations, orthostatic intolerance (difficulty staying upright), dizziness, and syncope.
Comments closedAmid a declining life expectancy across the country, new national data released this week show that years on from the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19…
Comments closedA review and meta-analysis of long-term cardiac complications of long COVID finds a high prevalence of chest pain and abnormal heart rhythms (arrythmias).
Comments closedMore than 19,700 Canadians died of COVID-19 last year, the highest number since the pandemic began in 2020.
Comments closedPM2.5 particles are tiny enough to enter the bloodstream and lodge in the lungs, where they contribute to respiratory problems such as asthma. They also can prompt heart attacks and strokes. And they have been linked to diabetes, obesity and dementia and may exacerbate COVID.
Comments closedAlthough many Canadians act as though the pandemic has ended, the airborne virus that causes COVID-19 continues to evolve at an amazing pace with devastating consequences for both individuals and the public at large.
Comments closed✉️ Send letters to voice your support for universal masking with respirators in hospitals. You can use your own email software to send the letters.
Why take action? SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne, level 3 pathogen. We need universal masking with respirators to prevent COVID-induced health issues, including long COVID, cognitive issues, and cardiovascular diseases.
Please take a moment to voice your support for universal masking with respirators in Ontario hospitals!
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