COVID Infection Linked to Sharp Increase in Long-Term Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke: Cleveland Clinic, USC Study; COVID-19 May Increase Heart Attack and Stroke Risk for Years, and other C-Virus related stories

COVID infection linked to sharp increase in long-term risk of heart attack, stroke: Cleveland Clinic, USC study:

A history of COVID-19 can double the long-term risk of heart attack, stroke or death, according to a new study from the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Southern California.

Researchers analyzed data from 10,000 people treated for COVID-19 in 2020 and roughly 200,000 people who were not infected. Doctors followed the health progress of the subjects for three years.

The study, published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Journal, found that patients with any type of COVID-19 infection were twice as likely to experience a major cardiac event for up to three years after their initial diagnosis than those with no history of COVID.

The risk of developing cardiovascular disease quadrupled in patients who were hospitalized for COVID-19.

The risks persisted for three years and held true even when doctors factored in conditions like diabetes and a history of heart disease, which would make patients more vulnerable to cardiac events.

None of the factors proved to be drivers of the increased cardiovascular events observed post-COVID-19 infection.

“Worldwide, over a billion people have already experienced COVID-19. The findings reported are not a small effect in a small subgroup,” said study co-author Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences in Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. “The results included nearly a quarter million people and point to a finding of global healthcare importance that promises to translate into a rise in cardiovascular disease globally.” —>READ MORE HERE

COVID-19 may increase heart attack and stroke risk for years:

People infected with the COVID-19 virus in 2020 may have double the risk for future heart attacks, strokes or premature death from any cause up to three years later – even if they never showed signs of severe illness, according to new research. The risk may be considerably higher in people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic.

The findings suggest that being hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2020 was a “coronary artery disease risk equivalent,” conferring a higher risk for future heart attacks, strokes or death in people without a history of cardiovascular disease than the risk for people with a history who didn’t have COVID. The continued increased risk was especially pronounced in people with non-O blood types, representing what the study’s authors say is one of the first examples of an interaction between genes and a pathogen that increases heart attack and stroke risk in people.

The analysis, which did not include people infected after vaccines were widely available, was published Wednesday in the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

“From the get-go, we knew there was an increased risk of cardiovascular events, but we thought it might be just during the acute phase of infection,” said the study’s co-senior author, Dr. Hooman Allayee, a professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. “Our study shows three years out, people who got COVID during that first wave of infections are at continued increased risk for heart attacks, strokes and dying.

“COVID, despite the vaccines, is still a public health issue,” he said. “Not only does COVID infect the lungs and cause long COVID, this thing just loves the vascular system.”

Allayee said the new research found that “even for people who just tested positive but did not necessarily develop severe symptoms, the risk for cardiovascular events was twice as high. It appears to do damage that is long-lasting in some individuals, and that’s what we are seeing.”

Previous studies have shown that the cardiovascular system could be affected in up to 25% of people admitted to the hospital for COVID-19, causing heart attacks, irregular heart rhythms, heart failure, cardiac arrest or strokes.

Research also has found that blood type may play a role in both COVID-19 susceptibility and the risk of developing cardiovascular problems. Prior studies have found that people with type O blood had a lower risk of becoming infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 than those with other blood types, and that people with type A or B have a higher risk for heart disease, heart attacks, blood clots and strokes compared to their type O peers. —>READ MORE HERE

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