COVID-19 has proven itself as a major burden on healthcare systems around the world. In the United States alone, over 1 million people have died from the disease since the first infections in early 2020. However, even amongst COVID-19 survivors, long-term symptoms like chronic fatigue and loss of smell or taste can occur. More alarmingly, a new study of over 150,000 people who had COVID-19 indicates that people who had an acute COVID-19 infection are more at risk for cardiovascular conditions starting about one month after they were infected.
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs recently followed multiple populations of COVID-19 positive individuals to better understand the long-term risks of a previous COVID-19 infection. Specifically, the authors found that previous COVID-19 infections increased the risk for conditions such as dysrhythmias (irregular heart rate), stroke, and heart attacks up to one year after infection. These risks were present in multiple subgroups, including race, smoking history, sex, and diabetes. Additionally, a major predictor of whether a patient could be at high risk for developing cardiovascular disease one year post-infection lies in the severity of the COVID-19 infection within the first 30 days. In particular, patients who ended up in the ICU or got hospitalized due to COVID-19 became more likely to have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease than non-hospitalized patients. Further, due to the rare reporting of myocarditis development after vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the authors additionally looked into the role of COVID-19 in increasing the risk of myocarditis. These results showed that COVID-19 infection does increase the risk of developing myocarditis, especially amongst patient populations that were controlled for previous vaccination against COVID-19.
Electrocardiograms (EKGs) are used to measure heart rhythms, which can be used to identify heart conditions like dysrhythmias.
Image Source: Mario Tama
While COVID-19 continues to rapidly change with regard to the variants of the virus spreading in the population, vaccine development, and public health guidelines, this data undoubtedly demonstrates the potential adverse long-term effects of COVID-19 infections. This holds particularly true for patients who were hospitalized for COVID-19. It is important to remain aware of changes to cardiovascular health and to seek medical attention for symptoms of cardiovascular disease. Additionally, future research must be conducted in order to further investigate the long-term risks of COVID-19 beyond one year post-infection.
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