55% increased risk of heart disease in people with COVID-19

Science and Technology Daily Beijing, February 8 (Intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin) According to a paper published in the journal Nature Medicine on the 7th, American researchers have found that people with new crown pneumonia have an increased risk of cardiovascular complications in the first month to one year after infection through in-depth analysis of federal health data. These complications include heart rhythm disturbances, heart inflammation, thrombosis, stroke, coronary heart disease, heart attack, heart failure and even death.

Senior author Chiyad Al-Ellie, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington, said observations of the long-term effects of COVID-19 have found that COVID-19 can lead to serious cardiovascular complications and death. The heart cannot regenerate after damage and is not easily repaired. These diseases will affect people throughout their lives.

Al-Elli also said that for those who were clearly at risk of heart disease before contracting COVID-19, COVID-19 could amplify that risk. But most notably, people who have never had any heart problems and are considered to be at lower risk of developing the disease will also have heart problems after getting COVID-19.

Most of the COVID-19 patients in the study were older white men, and the researchers also analyzed data that included women and adults of all ages and races. A year-long tracking of the heart health of these individuals found that the incidence of heart disease, including heart failure and death, was 4 percent higher than those who had not contracted COVID-19.

"Some people may think that 4% is a small number, but given the severity of the outbreak, this is not the case." "In the United States, about 3 million people suffer from cardiovascular complications from COVID-19," Al-Elli said. ”

Compared to the control group without any infection, people infected with COVID-19 were 72% more likely to develop coronary heart disease, 63% more likely to have a heart attack, and 52% more likely to have a stroke.

Overall, people living with COVID-19 are 55% more likely than others to have major cardiovascular adverse events, including heart attacks, strokes and deaths.