Severe COVID Case Ups Heart Risks As Much as History of Heart Disease

COVID infection increases a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke Severe infections increase risk as much as a history of heart disease Any COVID infection doubles the risk of a major cardiac event WEDNESDAY, Oct. 9, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A severe COVID infection can increase a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke as much as a history of heart disease, a new study says. People hospitalized for COVID had about the same risk of a major cardiac event as people with heart disease who never had COVID, researchers found.

Results also showed that any type of COVID infection -- mild to severe -- doubles the risk of a major cardiac event for up to three years following illness. “These findings reveal while it’s an upper respiratory tract infection, COVID-19 has a variety of health implications and underscores that we should consider history of prior COVID-19 infection when formulating cardiovascular disease preventive plans and goals,” said co-senior researcher Dr. Stanley Hazen , chair of cardiovascular and metabolic sciences with the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute.

Early in the pandemic it became clear that COVID increases a person’s risk of blood clots and heart problems, but there remains a lack of understanding regarding how long this risk lasts and what factors influence it, researchers said. For this study, researchers analyzed data from more than 10,000 COVID patients in the United Kingdom diagnosed between February and December 2020, and .