A new study about the long-term effects of COVID has shown a substantial rise in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and brain strokes, after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. These findings suggest that even people with mild COVID-19 who were not hospitalized had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease for at least a year after the initial diagnosis. The study enrolled people infected in 2020 and early 2021, before the omicron variant and before most people were vaccinated, so it does not show how omicron or vaccination affects this risk. Based on the new data, it appears that the rates of many cardiovascular conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, heart failure and heart rhythm problems, were substantially higher in people who have recovered from COVID-19 than in similar patients who were never diagnosed with COVID-19. The Regeneration Center has also written about how covid can lead to heart and lung disease in an earlier article.
Additional data found that the risk of developing cardiovascular disease was higher in relative terms in people under 65 and in people without risk factors such as diabetes or obesity. The increase was seen across age groups and in both smokers and non-smokers, although the added risk for any one person was modest and an observational study cannot prove that COVID-19 caused it. The researcher compared more than 175,000 people who survived for at least one month (30 days) after contracting COVID-19. The study subjects were divided into two groups of uninfected patients: more than seven million people who used insurance during the pandemic and a similarly sized group that used the insurance before SARS-CoV-2 infection began.
Troubled weak hearts after COVID
People who had recovered from COVID-19 had a higher risk of many cardiovascular conditions in the year after infection. For example, patients were about 52% more likely to have a stroke than the control group, which means that, out of every 1,000 people, there were around four more strokes in the COVID-19 (exposed) group than in the control group (non-exposed) over one year.
The risk of developing congestive heart failure increased by about 72%, or around 12 more people in the COVID-19 group per 1,000 over one year. Hospitalization rates also increased other risks, such as the likelihood of developing cardiovascular complications in the future, but even patients who avoided being hospitalized were still at a higher risk for many medical conditions such as dilated cardiomyopathy, transverse myelitis, neuropathy and SLE.
The research reveals how long cardiovascular complications caused by COVID can last. Because severe disease increases the risk of complications far more than a mild case, individuals who are not yet vaccinated must receive their vaccines as soon as possible. The study’s length and observational design impose some limitations. For example, people in the primary control group were not all tested for COVID-19, so it is quite possible that some of the subjects had mild infections which went unreported or un-diagnosed. Healthcare providers and regenerative healthcare centers should be prepared to identify and manage heart and blood vessel problems in people who have had COVID-19, including the many patients with long COVID.
