According to the study, even people who never showed enough symptoms to be hospitalized with the virus are in danger of developing heart failure or potentially deadly blood clots a year later.
Researchers at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri reported that COVID-19 survivors who weren’t hospitalized had a 39 percent increased risk of developing heart failure in the first year compared to someone who never had the virus.
They also had a 119 percent increased risk of developing a potentially fatal blood clot and a 24 percent increased risk of having a stroke.
For those who were hospitalized with COVID-19, the numbers increased even further, with a 482 percent chance of cardiac arrest, 270 percent chance for heart failure, and an 855 percent chance of blood clots.
The study states that one in seven patients who were admitted to an ICU with COVID-19 were at an increased risk of suffering a major cardiac event in the first year.
Researchers said that after the first 30 days of infection, people with COVID-19 are at an increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease that include:
- Cerebrovascular disorders;
- Dysrhythmias;
- Ischemic and non-ischemic heart disease;
- Pericarditis;
- Myocarditis;
- Heart failure;
- Thromboembolic disease.
The complete results from the study can be found here.
"Given the large and growing number of people infected with COVID-19), the risks and 12-month burdens cardiovascular disease reported here may translate in large number of potentially affected people around the world,” researchers stated.
“Governments and health systems around the world should be prepared to deal with the likely significant contribution of the COVID-19 pandemic to a rise in the burden of cardiovascular diseases.”
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