A study on over 150 thousand patients was published in Nature. The danger of heart complications occurring within the first month and up to a year after infection
It is now known that Sars-CoV2 infection can give important sequelae even months after recovery. So much so that scientists have coined the term Long Covid , to indicate a syndrome apart from the progenitor. Now a study published in Nature (
here the text
) by a group of researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, coordinated by Professor Ziyad Al-Aly, he wanted to investigate what the post-acute cardiovascular manifestations of Covid-19 one year after infection. And it proved that, as early as 30 days later, patients present an increased risk of cardiovascular disease covering several categoriesincluding cerebrovascular disorders, arrhythmias, ischemic and non-ischemic heart disease, pericarditis, myocarditis, heart failure and thromboembolic disease.
an important article and the magazine that published it testifies, comments the professor Giulio Pompilio, scientific director of the Monzino Irccs cardiology center in Milan. The study confirms some information on the effects of Long Covid on the cardiovascular level that was already known, such as for example thrombosis and ischemic events. But others, such as arrhythmias and heart failure it would seem to indicate an even greater incidence. Based on these
data, which must be confirmed and whose causes need to be better understood, C.
ovid would be included as a new cardiovascular risk factor in the post-acute period.
Over 200 symptoms
The symptoms of Long Covid have been extensively described in the scientific literature. Tiredness, sometimes even mental (i.e. memory problems and difficulty concentrating)loss of smell and taste, but also headache and stress along with cardiorespiratory difficulties and much more explains Graziano Under, director of the Department of Cardiovascular, Dysmetabolic and Aging Diseases of the Higher Institute of Health who on February 9 presented the CCM project, funded by the Ministry of Health, Analysis and response strategies to the long-term effects of COVID infection- 19 (Long-COVID). The objective is to monitor the long-term effects of SARS-CoV2 infection, to increase knowledge and to standardize its approach and clinical management at national level. That much more includes cognitive decline, neurological, kidney, and dermatological problems a list of symptoms that has now exceeded 200.
The methodology
The researchers analyzed anonymous medical records in a database maintained by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, the nation’s largest integrated health care system. A controlled data set was created that included health information of 153,760 people tested positive for Covid-19 from March 1, 2020 to January 15, 2021 and who had survived the first 30 days of the disease. Very few people in the study have been vaccinated before to develop Covid, because vaccines were not yet widely available.
Statistical modeling was used to compare cardiovascular outcomes in the Covid-19 dataset with two other groups of people not infected with the virus: a control group of over 5.6 million patients who did not have Covid in the same period of time; And a control group of over 5.8 million people who have been infected from March 2018 to January 2019, well before the spread of the virus and the outbreak of the pandemic. The study does not include data involving the delta and omicron variants of the viruswhich began to spread rapidly in the second half of 2021.
An estimated 4 percent increase in risk
The Covid-19 patients in the study were mostly older white men; however, data were analyzed that included women and adults of all ages and races. The researchers analyzed the group’s cardiovascular health for one year. Heart disease, including heart failure and death, occurred in 4% more people than those who were not infected with Covid-19. One might think that 4% is a low number, but it is not, given the magnitude of the pandemic, professed Al-Aly said. There it translates in approximately 3 million people in the United States who have suffered from cardiovascular complications due to Covid-19.
The control groups
Compared to those in the control groups without any infectionpeople who contracted Covid were 72% more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease, 63% more to have a heart attack and 52% more to have a stroke. Overall, people infected with the virus were 55% more likely than those without Covid-19. to suffer a severe cardiovascular adverse event. Our findings highlight the serious long-term cardiovascular consequences of having a Covid-19 infection e stress the importance of getting vaccinated as a way to prevent heart damage; this also underlines the importance of increasing accessibility to vaccines in countries with limited resources, stressed Professor Al-Aly.
Governments and health systems around the world should be prepared for the pandemic’s likely significant contribution to the increased burden of cardiovascular disease, he said. Due to the chronic nature of these conditions, there are likely to be long-lasting consequences for patients and healthcare systemsand also broad implications on economic productivity and life expectancy. Addressing the challenges posed by Long Covid will require a long-term global response strategy urgent and coordinated, which until now has been lacking.
The importance of real world data
This study testifies to the importance of so-called “real world” data, that is orderly collection of administrative and clinical data of patientsthe. For those who have them, they are a mine that can provide important answers, adds Professor Pompilio. If the data from this study were to be confirmed, we must expect an increase in cardiovascular problems in the population and this will be a problem to be addressed at the health service level and I fear it will be something we will have to deal with. We are also moving in Italy: Monzino is part of the Irccs system and, in particular, the cardiology network is conducting a huge amount of work on cardiovascular Long Covid syndrome which will collect not only retrospective but also prospective data, concludes Professor Pompilio.
February 11, 2022 (change February 11, 2022 | 14:57)
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