Scientific Asia: A sizable new study indicates that COVID-19 may be a potent risk factor for heart attacks and strokes up to three years following an infection.
A study was published on Wednesday in the journal Atherosclerosis, Thormbosis, and Vascular Biology. It made use of personal health details from about 25,000 participants in the UK Biobank, a sizable database.
Researchers found over 11,000 individuals in this dataset. Their medical records showed positive COVID-19 lab tests in 2020. About 3,000 of these individuals had hospitalized infections. They compared these groups to almost 222,000 individuals with no history of COVID-19 during the same period.
The study found that people who had COVID-19 in 2020, before vaccines, were twice as likely to have a serious heart event or die in the three years after their illness, compared to those who tested negative.
A major cardiac event was over three times more likely in someone hospitalized for their infection, suggesting a more serious illness than in someone with no record of COVID.
Also, COVID seemed as risky as diabetes or PAD. It raised the chances of heart attacks and strokes in hospitalized people.
Research conducted between May 2020 and April 2021 estimated that over 3.5 million Americans were hospitalized due to COVID-19.
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A discovery specific to COVID-19
The study concluded that the increased risks of heart attack caused by infection did not seem to go down with time.
According to study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, who chairs the Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences, “There’s no sign of attenuation of that risk.” It’s actually one of the more intriguing and unexpected conclusions, in my opinion.
Not involved in the research, Dr. Patricia Best, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said that the discovery is remarkable. It seems to be specific to COVID-19.
“Some time ago, it was shown that infections raise heart attack risk. So, the flu or any infection—bacterial or viral—raises that risk,” Best stated. But if you get an infection, it usually goes away quite quickly.
“I believe it’s because of how different Covid is from some of the other infections, which is why this is just such a large effect,” the speaker stated.
According to the study’s experts, there is a reason why COVID-19 appears to have such lasting impacts on the cardiovascular system.
Research shows that the coronavirus can infect blood vessel lining cells. Also, the virus is linked to sticky plaques in arteries. They can burst and cause heart attacks and strokes.
Dr. Hooman Allayee, a professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, authored the study. He said, “COVID-19 may damage artery walls and the vascular system. Effects can last long after the infection.”
Allayee says that COVID-19 may destabilize plaques in artery walls. This may increase the risk of plaque rupture and clotting.
Certain protective elements
To find out how COVID might be creating this chronic issue in the body, Allayee and his doctoral student James Hilser looked more closely.
The study aimed to find if COVID-related gene changes, or heart attack and stroke risk factors, increased death risk after COVID-19 hospitalization. They weren’t, though.
The researchers claim that a difference based on blood type did emerge.
Researchers agree that people with non-O blood types—A, B, or AB—are more likely to have heart disease.
The likelihood of contracting COVID also seems to be influenced by blood type. Additionally, there seems to be some protection for those with O-type blood.
A study found that COVID-19 patients with O-type blood had a lower risk of heart attack or stroke than those with A, B, or AB blood. Hazen said their blood type wasn’t a guarantee of safety; it was just another factor. They were still more vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes.
The researchers are unsure of the exact mechanism. They think the blood type gene may raise the risk of heart attacks and strokes after COVID.
The study did contain some encouraging findings, though. Individuals who used low-dose aspirin and were hospitalized for COVID did not have a higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke later on. Thus, according to Hazen, the risk can be reduced.
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-19 history when he visits them.
“We must reduce your cardiovascular risk if you’ve had COVID,” Hazen said. “We need to take all reasonable steps to do that.”
This entails managing cholesterol and blood pressure as well as possibly taking an aspirin every day.
Hazen believes COVID-19 vaccines prevent serious infections. So, they would be preventive. However, the study did not examine their effect on cardiovascular risk.
Also, the study did not investigate the possibility that recurrent COVID-19 infections, as some studies have indicated, could be associated with even higher health risks.
Nevertheless, Hazen advised everyone who was hospitalized for COVID-19 to be aware of their heart risks, regardless of vaccination status.
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