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Channel9.id-Jakarta. Recent studies reveal that some COVID-19 survivors will face heart problems, even after the initial infection is over. Survivors were more likely to report heart problems in the next 12 months, when compared to patients with other cases. This risk will be greater for survivors who have been hospitalized, with cases that tend to be mild to moderate.
For information, starting from various studies—including this latest one, it was found that COVID-19 survivors may experience other diseases in the future. These symptoms that tend to persist are referred to as “long covid”—where survivors can experience fatigue, cognitive impairment, and impaired sense of smell. However, much is still unknown about “long covid”, including its root causes and effects on the body.
This latest study, published this week in Nature Medicine, appears to be one of the more in-depth follow-up studies on cardiac complications, which may be related to COVID-19.
The researchers used nationwide medical data from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USA), which is the country’s largest integrated health care system. They compared cardiovascular conditions during the pandemic and before the pandemic of more than 150,000 COVID-19 survivors. Making this comparison is important, because it can shed light on trends related to the pandemic that might affect people’s heart health in other ways.
Researchers then found a consistent pattern: COVID-19 survivors had a higher risk of developing cardiovascular problems—including those that led to death, within 12 months (to account for initial illness, they only looked at outcomes reported 30 days after COVID-19 diagnosis). Compared to people who were not diagnosed with COVID-19 during the pandemic, COVID-19 survivors had a 52% higher risk of stroke, a 72% higher risk of atrial fibrillation (such as an irregular heartbeat, and a two-fold higher risk of heart inflammation). including myocarditis.
“What we saw was not good,” said study author Ziyad Al-Aly, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington. “COVID-19 can cause serious cardiovascular complications and death. The heart does not regenerate or recover easily if it is damaged. It is a disease that will affect people for life.”
COVID-19 with symptoms that can lead to heart damage. As other studies have shown, the increased risk of long-term complications is most likely among survivors who require intensive care, i.e. those who are hospitalized. However, there is a similar risk for survivors who are not hospitalized, even if they have no risk of heart disease—including younger people.
The researchers’ data only included people in the first year of the pandemic, prior to the newer Delta or Omicron variants. It is not yet clear how strong vaccination or natural immunity can prevent the risk of “long covid” symptoms, although both are considered capable of providing protection. Vaccines have been shown to reduce the risk of infection and severe symptoms. So, there is a good chance that the risk of “long covid” will continue to decrease over time. Even so, the researchers say, the world must continue to work on vaccinations and helping survivors.
“Because of this chronic condition, survivors and the health system are likely to have long-term consequences. It also has far-reaching implications on economic productivity and life expectancy,” explains Al-Aly. “Addressing the challenges posed by the protracted COVID-19 is in dire need of an urgent and coordinated long-term global strategy, but so far lacking.”
(LH)
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