Risks of heart problems remain elevated for up to a year after Covid--new study

After Covid, risks of heart problems remain elevated for up to a year Among the unvaccinated, long-term heart risks attributed to Covid-19 were "everywhere," researchers found. NBC News

... it appears the coronavirus can leave patients at risk for heart problems for at least one year following infection, according to one of the largest analyses of post-Covid health effects to date.

The study, published last week in Nature Medicine, found that the illness increased the possibility of heart rhythm irregularities, as well as potentially deadly blood clots in the legs and lungs, in the year after an acute infection.

Covid also increased the risk for heart failure by 72 percent, heart attack by 63 percent and stroke by 52 percent — even among those, like Wilson, whose original illnesses were mild.

The study's lead author, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, said he and his colleagues expected to see some elevation in heart problems following Covid, but assumed it would be limited largely to people whose health wasn’t robust previously.

The elevated risk remained when researchers accounted for age and race, he said.

"It was a bit of a moment for us when we realized it was evident in all of these subgroups," Al-Aly said, "including younger adults, older adults, Black people, white people, people with obesity and those without."  ...