People with Covid History Must Monitor Heart Health, More Prone to Cardiovascular Ailments: Latest Study

The risk of developing heart ailments is “substantially” higher among Covid-19 survivors than those with no history of the infection, a recent study published in The Lancet found.

The report published on August 11, titled “Long-term cardiovascular outcomes in Covid-19 survivors among non-vaccinated population: A retrospective cohort study from the TriNetX US collaborative networks”, advises that people with a history of Covid should pay attention to their cardiovascular health.

Findings

The study noted that the impact of Covid-19 on cardio-related outcomes appeared to be more pronounced in inpatients (who were admitted to the hospital for treatment due to the infection) than in outpatients.

It concluded that “the 12-month risk of incidental cardiovascular diseases is substantially higher in the Covid-19 survivors than the non-Covid-19 controls”.

Hence, it said, “clinicians and patients with a history of Covid-19 should pay attention to their cardiovascular health in long term”.

The risks of cardiovascular outcomes were evident in both male and female Covid survivors. The risk of mortality was higher in the elderly among them, aged above or equal to 65 years, than in the young ones.

The intention to perform the study was to find out the long-term cardiovascular outcomes in COVID-19 survivors, which so far have remained “largely unclear”.

How the study was conducted

From a cohort of more than 42 million records between January 1, 2019, and March 31, 2022, a total of 4,131,717 participants who underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing were recruited.

The study population was divided into two groups based on Covid-19 test results.

The Covid-19 survivors, the study found, were associated with increased risks of cerebrovascular diseases – that developed due to blood flow in the brain.

It includes diseases such as stroke, arrhythmia-related disorders including atrial fibrillation, inflammatory heart disease, such as myocarditis, ischemic heart disease, like ischemic cardiomyopathy, other cardiac disorders, such as heart failure, and thromboembolic disorders (where the blood clot is developed in the vain).

The risks of major adverse cardiovascular events and any cardiovascular outcome were also higher in the Covid-19 survivors than in the controls, the study noted.

“Moreover, the survival probability of the Covid-19 survivors dramatically decreased in all the cardiovascular outcomes,” the study said.

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