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Injury to the heart and inflammation of the vascular system and occurs in 20 to 30 percent of all hospitalized COVID patients, with the heart damage resulting in 40 percent of COVID deaths, the AHA said.
The risk of death from COVID-related heart damage appears to be as or more important than other risk factors for COVID fatalities, such as age, diabetes mellitus, chronic pulmonary disease or prior history of cardiovascular disease, the AHA noted.
“Much remains to be learned about COVID-19 infection and the heart," said Mitchell S. V. Elkind, president of the American Heart Association. "Although we think of the lungs being the primary target, there are frequent biomarker elevations noted in infected patients that are usually associated with acute heart injury.
"Moreover, several devastating complications of COVID-19 are cardiac in nature and may result in lingering cardiac dysfunction beyond the course of the viral illness itself.
“The need for additional research remains critical. We simply don’t have enough information to provide the definitive answers people want and need.”
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