The Covid-19 pandemic has not just been about the initial bouts of infection, mild or severe, but also about lingering side-effects in many people. Now, a new study suggests that all people who have had a coronavirus infection, even it was very mild, are at an increased risk of developing heart problems in the future.
The research at the Johns Hopkins University in the US claims that no person is immune to this side-effect. The findings were shared by epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding on Monday via Twitter. The study, which was published last month, found that people who had Covid illness can develop issues related to the heart, which includes inflammation, clots, irregular heartbeat, even after a year from their Covid-19 recovery. It adds that even people who are relatively healthy appear to be at risk.
The research was conducted by Dr Ziyad Al-Aly, who is the director of Clinical Epidemiology Center, said that the findings were surprising as the risk of heart issues was seen even in people who only had mild symptoms and did not require hospitalisation due to Covid-19.
This is counterintuitive, as the researchers expected the risks to be more for people who are suffering from heart or kidney disease, are diabetic, smokers and those with some other risk factors. However, the researchers found that even people without any heart problems to begin with, those who were athletic, not having high BMI, not obese, not smoker, and not suffering from kidney disease or having diabetes and without any heart risk factors, were impacted by Covid-19 in a way that manifested the higher risk of heart problems” compared to those who did not catch Covid.
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The researchers found evidence of heightened risk of “stroke, blood clots affecting legs and lungs, heart failure and heart attacks”.
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The major study that involved 11 million people in the US, including 10 percent females, 20 percent blacks and mostly white males saw that the risk was “across the board”. "It really spared no one," said Dr Al-Aly.
