It shows a new study on the aftermath of the worldwide pandemic triggered by the sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19 disease.
The disease primarily affects the respiratory tract. To date, at least 4.8 million people have been confirmed dead worldwide, while 215 million have been infected. The dark numbers are probably high.
There has been some information about the long-term effects of the virus, however New research now shows that there is reason to take into account that infected people can have serious complications at a much later stage than researchers have hitherto thought, long after the disease occurred and the infected person was declared healthy.
Significant repercussions
“The repercussions of Covid-19 are significant,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the Clinical Epidemiological Center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri. He has led the research that has led to new findings about the duration of after-effects, writes Bloomberg.
It has long been known that the likelihood of fatal cardiac complications may occur in those affected by Covid-19. It now turns out that the risk persists over a very long period of time, even in people who have not been ill enough to be admitted.
This is the delta variant of covid-19. The Lambda variant can be even more contagious and better at getting through the vaccine barriers. Foto: Shutterstock / NTB
—-
– Can have devastating consequences
According to the researchers, people can develop heart failure and fatal blood clots up to one year after they first became ill.
– I’m worried that we do not take this seriously enough. Governments and health authorities must wake up to the reality that Covid-19 will be able to cast a long shadow in the form of long-Covid, and have devastating consequences, warns Ziyad Al-Aly.
The study states that being admitted to hospital for Covid-19 is associated with a 5.8 times increased risk of cardiac arrest and almost a 14 times greater chance of inflammation of the heart muscle.
Huge rash
Researchers at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri found that Covid-19 patients who were not hospitalized had a 39 percent increased risk of developing heart failure in the first year compared to someone who had never had the virus.
They also had a 119 percent increased risk of developing a potentially fatal blood clot and a 24 percent increased risk of having a stroke, according to the study. The increased risk was even greater for those who were hospitalized with the virus.
The researchers compared data from 151,195 people who survived Covid-19 with more than 3.6 million people who were not infected with the virus.
May be affected by several lifestyle and living conditions factors
–
Steinar Madsen, medical director at the Norwegian Medicines Agency. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB Photo: NTB
—-
Researchers are still trying to uncover the causes of heart damage in Covid patients. Findings from previous natural disasters and previous pandemics suggest indirect effects of Covid-19 as a result of social isolation, poor finances, changes in diet and physical activity, as well as trauma and grief.
Cardiologist and medical director Steinar Madsen at the Norwegian Medicines Agency says this about the study.
– Is it due to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease after covid-19 disease alone, or may it be due to patients not showing up for a medical check-up to the same degree as before the pandemic, or may it be due to someone not having the time or money to buy their medication, or could it be because people have been more sedentary and eaten more unhealthy foods? There can be many factors that affect this, Madsen says Dagbladet.
Increases the risk of serious illness
He points out that previous studies have shown that covid-19 causes acute cardiovascular disease, but not to what extent the disease affects the extent of cardiovascular disease in a longer perspective.
Research has also shown that some groups of people are at higher risk of developing serious illness than others. Among the risk factors, age, gender, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and chronic lung disease are considered to be the most important.
People who have a weakened immune system combined with underlying diseases have the highest risk of developing a serious illness.
– .
:strip_icc():format(jpeg)/kly-media-production/medias/2716297/original/076756500_1548822391-Jantung_Koroner_673.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
