Berlin. Many infections put a strain on the heart. Corona is considered particularly threatening. A new study shows how great the danger is.
Corona increases that Risk of heart disease. Anyone who was infected with Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic – before vaccines were available – has to live with a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes even years later. This assumption is suggested by a study published on Wednesday in the journal “Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology”.
Anyone who has had Corona should pay particular attention to their heart, i.e. check their blood pressure and cholesterol levels regularly. And doctors should check heart disease patients as a precaution Covid history questions.
New Corona study: Higher risk of serious heart disease
The basis of the study: medical records from almost 250,000 people from the UK Biobank database. This included over 11,000 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 in 2020. Around 3,000 had to be treated in hospital.
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The researchers compared the group of corona sufferers with more than 222,000 other patients who were not ill with Covid-19 during the same period. Result: The infected group had a disease almost three years after their illness twice as high risk for serious heart disease, sometimes with fatal consequences.
Long lasting disadvantages
If the disease was severe, the sick had to go to hospital. They are even at risk of serious heart disease three times higher than people who have not had Covid. The increased heart risk caused by the infection does not appear to go away quickly.
This is perhaps even the most common assumption concern triggers. Because: In general, infections increase the risk of heart attack, including the flu, for example. But the point is that the risk decreases once the infection is over.
Aspirin helped
Things are different with Covid-19. With Corona, there are “no signs of a reduction in this risk,” says study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, chief of the Division of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences at the Cleveland Clinic. “This is actually one of the most interesting and most surprising results, I think.”
It is likely that Covid will cause lasting damage to the arterial walls and vascular system, which will then become noticeable over time. Blood type also seems to play a role. People with the Blood type O seem to be better protected.
Capital Inside by Jörg Quoos, editor-in-chief of the FUNKE central editorial team
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Hazen suspects that the vaccination has a protective effect. The vaccines usually lead to a milder course. But this was not examined in the study. On the other hand, it was shown that Covid sufferers who took low doses Aspirin had a lower risk of later suffering a heart attack or stroke.
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