According to a sizable new study, Covid-19 may pose a significant risk for heart attacks and strokes up to three years after an infection.
Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, a medical journal, released the study on Wednesday. It was based on the medical records of about 25,000 individuals who were part of the UK Biobank, a sizable database.
Researchers found that more than 11,000 individuals with Covid-19 positive lab test results recorded in their medical records in 2020—nearly 3,000 of whom had been hospitalized for their infections—were included in this dataset. These groups were contrasted with nearly 222,000 individuals in the same database who did not have a history of Covid-19 throughout the same period.
The study discovered that individuals who contracted Covid in 2020, before to the development of vaccines to mitigate the infection, were twice as likely to experience a serious cardiac event, such as a heart attack or stroke, or to pass away for nearly three years following their sickness, in comparison to those who tested negative.
A major cardiac event was more than three times more likely to occur in someone who had been hospitalized for their infection, suggesting a more serious illness, than in someone whose medical records did not include Covid.
Furthermore, Covid seemed to be just as strong a risk factor for subsequent heart attacks and strokes in hospitalized individuals as diabetes or peripheral arterial disease, or PAD.
According to one study, between May 2020 and April 2021, almost 3.5 million Americans were hospitalized for COVID-19.
A finding unique to Covid-19
The study discovered that the increased heart risks resulting from infection did not seem to go down with time.
Dr. Stanley Hazen, lead author of the study and chair of the Cleveland Clinic’s department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences, stated, “There’s no sign of attenuation of that risk.” “I believe that’s one of the more intriguing and unexpected findings.”
Dr. Patricia Best, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not involved in the research, said that discovery is remarkable and appears to be specific to Covid-19.
“We’ve known for a while that infections increase your risk of heart attacks, so whether you have the flu or contract any other infection—bacterial or viral, for example—your risk of suffering a heart attack is increased,” Best stated. However, following your infection, it usually goes away rather soon.
She stated, “I think it’s just because of how different Covid is from some of the other infections, which is why this is just such a large effect.”
The study’s researchers claim they are unsure of the precise cause of Covid’s seemingly enduring effects on the cardiovascular system.
Previous research has demonstrated that the coronavirus can infect blood vessel lining cells. Additionally, the virus has been linked to the formation of sticky plaques in arteries, which can burst and result in heart attacks and strokes.
Professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and study author Dr. Hooman Allayee said, “There might just be something that Covid does to the artery walls and the vascular system that is sustained damage and just continues to manifest over time.”
According to Allayee, their working idea is that Covid may be weakening the plaques that are accumulating inside artery walls, increasing the likelihood that they may burst and form a clot.
Some protective factors
Allayee and his doctoral student James Hilser investigated more closely to determine whether Covid could be the source of this chronic illness in the body.
They investigated whether there was a difference in the incidence of heart attack, stroke, or death following hospitalization for Covid among individuals with established genetic risk factors for heart disease or gene alterations associated with susceptibility to Covid infection. However, they weren’t.
According to the researchers, a blood type-based difference did emerge.
People with specific non-O blood types, such as A, B, or AB, have been found to have an increased risk of cardiovascular illnesses.
It seems that a person’s blood type affects their risk of contracting COVID-19. O-type blood types also appear to have some protection in that area.
According to the latest study, hospitalized patients with O-type blood had a lower risk of heart attack or stroke than patients with A, B, or AB blood types. They were still more vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes, according to Hazen, but that doesn’t imply they were safe. Their blood type was just one more factor to take into account.
Though they are unsure of the precise mechanism, the researchers think that the blood type gene may be contributing to the higher risk of heart attacks and strokes following Covid.
The study did contain some encouraging findings, though. Individuals who took low-dose aspirin and were hospitalized for COVID-19 did not have an increase in the likelihood of a subsequent heart attack or stroke. That means the risk can be mitigated, Hazen said.
He declared, “Cardiac disease and cardiovascular events remain the leading causes of death worldwide.”
Hazen stated that he now makes it a point to find out about his patients’ Covid history when he visits them.
“We need to pay extra attention to ensuring that we’re taking all reasonable steps to reduce your cardiovascular risk if you have had Covid,” explained Hazen.
This entails managing cholesterol and blood pressure as well as possibly taking an aspirin every day.
Although the effects of the Covid-19 immunization on an individual’s cardiovascular risk were not examined in the study, Hazen believes that it would be protective because vaccinations typically prevent severe Covid infections.
“We need to pay extra attention to ensuring that we’re taking all reasonable steps to reduce your cardiovascular risk if you have had Covid,” Hazen said.
This means controlling blood pressure, cholesterol, and maybe taking an aspirin daily.
Hazen thinks that the Covid-19 vaccination would be protective because immunizations usually prevent severe Covid infections, even if the study did not look at how the vaccination affected a person’s cardiovascular risk.
