How COVID-19 Plays Role in Risk for Long-Term Cardiac Issues

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CLEVELAND - A new Cleveland Clinic study found that having a history of COVID-19 can double a person’s long-term risk for heart attack, stroke and even death.

“There were several surprising findings about this study,” said Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, cardiologist for Cleveland Clinic. “First, just having a COVID-19 positive test, a PCR positive test, results in at least a two-fold increase in risk. And this risk doesn't show any sign of attenuation. That was a surprising part. As far out as follow-up data was available, which is three years of follow-up, the heightened risk remains.”

Dr. Hazen said they also discovered that the long-term risk for cardiac issues increased if the person was hospitalized for COVID-19.

In fact, their risk was comparable to someone who had a heart attack before.

So, what does all of this mean?

Dr. Hazen said the findings emphasize the importance of talking with your physician about heart health.

More specifically, what you can do to lower your risk for cardiovascular disease.

As for why COVID-19 seems to be causing potential heart issues, Dr. Hazen said they’re not entirely sure.

However, they did discover that blood type could somehow play a role.

“So, everyone after COVID, in general, had a higher risk, but amongst those, those who had an A, B, or AB blood type were at especially high risk compared to those with an O blood type,” he explained. “And there have been small, but other studies that have suggested the ABO blood type is linked to future cardiac events and development of heart attack and stroke. And so, whatever that pathway, how that is linked to cardiac events, COVID is somehow tagging along with that pathway. But we don't quite understand how blood type is linked to heart disease.”

Cleveland clinic worked with University of Southern California researchers on this study.

Together, they analyzed data from the UK biobank, which looked at individuals who first contracted COVID-19 in 2020, before the vaccine was available.

And speaking of the vaccine, Dr. Hazen encourages the public to continue getting vaccinated to help prevent severe infection.