New research published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology suggests that being infected with COVID-19 raises your risk of having a heart attack or stroke up to three years later.
The study used data from the UK Biobank to identify over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in 2020. Matched controls were also identified from the same time period. Then, hazard models were used to evaluate whether infection with COVID-19 was associated with a higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes. The study additionally analyzed whether COVID-19 interacted with genetics to increase cardiovascular risks.
The results showed that there was a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease associated with COVID-19 infection. The level of risk was associated with the severity of the COVID-19 infection, with severe cases that required hospitalization associated with greater risk. The risk remained elevated up to three years after the infection. In some cases, the elevated risk was nearly equivalent to the risk associated with having type 2 diabetes or peripheral artery disease. Interestingly, the increased risk had a genetic component, and people with A, B, or AB blood types had an increased risk compared to people with type O blood.
The authors noted that over a billion people have contracted COVID-19 worldwide, so these results affect a huge number of people. These findings suggest that a rise in incidence of cardiovascular disease around the world is possible due to the number of COVID-19 cases that have occurred since the pandemic started in 2019. In the future, physicians may consider severe COVID-19 infection to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease on par with other risk factors such as type 2 diabetes. These results also suggest that people who have previously been infected with COVID-19 may benefit from preventative cardiovascular care.
Sources: Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, Science Daily
