Covid aftershocks

Survivors of the disease are at increased risk of lingering impacts on both heart and brain health, follow-up studies suggest.

- Nicky Pellegrino

There have been dire predictions about the longer-term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and perhaps one of the more concerning is that we are set to experience a "cardiovascular aftershock".

Already there is some science to show that contracting the virus may lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular conditions. A study published in Nature Medicine suggests that problems might persist for at least a year, and even those with relatively mild symptoms can be affected.

Researchers used national healthcare databases from the US Department of Veterans Affairs to build a cohort of nearly 154,000 people who caught Covid19 early on. The veteran population tends to be older, white, and male, but researchers found increased risk in every subgroup they looked at, regardless of age, ethnicity or gender. A wide range of cardiovascular conditions was involved, including abnormal heart rhythms, heart muscle inflammation, blood clots, strokes, heart failure and heart attack, and the risks increased with the severity of the infection.

We already knew that there was a connection between heart attacks and the flu. The risk of a heart attack is six times greater in the week following an influenza infection than at any point in the year prior or following.