CV and mad panic behaviour

[Mav]

‘This is our biggest killer’: Shock deaths put spotlight on heart disease, The Age.

Cardiovascular doctors and researchers are trying to ascertain whether COVID-19 infections have long-term effects on the heart, with a major study published in Nature Medicine finding incidents of serious cardiac and cardiovascular problems were higher among people infected with the virus.

The study analysed the health records of more than 150,000 patients from the US Department of Veterans Affairs and found that COVID-19 patients were 63 per cent were more likely to have a heart attack and 52 per cent more likely to have a stroke than control groups.

Cardiologist Stephen Nicholls, from Monash University’s Victoria Heart Institute, said it was plausible that heart disease could result from a COVID-19 infection, but the science was still evolving.

“We know that COVID can cause inflammation of the heart muscle and the pericardium ... it also can cause an increased clotting tendency,” he said.

Peter Barlis, a cardiologist at the Northern and St Vincent’s hospitals in Victoria, said patients suffering a heart attack while infected with COVID-19 tended to have worse outcomes, including a higher chance of clots and injury to the heart muscle.

However, he said the link between COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease should not be overstated, as there were still many unknowns. It was crucial to monitor the heart conditions of people with acute COVID-19 infections to study any long-term effects, he said.

The other problem noted is that Covid restrictions and caution reduced the number of people getting heart checks and also had an effect on mental health.