Warning to anyone who’s had Covid over links to 20 dangerous conditions
PEOPLE who catch Covid are at higher risk of 20 different conditions, a new study has warned.
Even those who didn't have an illness severe enough to be hospitalised could develop problems.
The research, published in Nature Medicine, warned long-term effects could be seen in the heart and vascular system.
These include cardiac arrest, heart failure, stroke, irregular heart rhythms, blood clots, blood vessel diseases and inflammation disorders.
Experts looked at data for over 11 million US veterans, including 154,000 who had Covid.
They then estimated the risks within a year for about 20 cardiovascular diseases.
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The researchers found those who had Covid a year before were at a significantly higher risk, compared to those who hadn't had the bug.
This risk then rose the more serious their case was.
Evelina Grayver, director of women’s heart health at Northwell Health in New York, who wasn’t involved with the study, : “There were 20 cardiac disorders that were diagnosed for those patients that are suffering from long haul Covid.
"The most common is the shortness of breath and fatigue.
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“The new arrhythmias, or the abnormal heart rhythms that people experience, are significant as well and can become incredibly handicapping for a lot of patients."
People who had Covid faced a 72 per cent higher risk of heart failure after 12 months.
And around 45 more people per 1,000 went on to develop any of the 20 conditions, compared to uninfected people.
It it worth noting, however, that the study period ended before vaccines were available.
The 20 conditions:
- Stroke
- TIA
- Atrial fibrillation
- Sinus tachycardia
- Sinus bradycardia
- Ventricular arrhythmias
- Atrial flutter
- Pericarditis
- Myocarditis
- Acute coronary disease
- Myocardial infarction
- Ischemic cardiomyopathy
- Angina
- Heart failure
- Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy
- Cardiac arrest
- Cardiogenic shock
- Pulmonary embolism
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Superficial vein thrombosis
*symptoms and signs of each condition can be found
So almost all of the veterans studied had not had a single jab when they caught Covid.
The risks still apply for people who have had Covid, but this research does not cover if vaccines lessen the potential of developing the 20 conditions.
A string of hugely positive studies show Omicron is milder than other strains, especially in the vaccinated.
Covid booster jabs protect against Omicron and offer the best chance to get through the pandemic, health officials have repeatedly said.
“Covid is an equal opportunity offender,” Ziyad Al-Aly, the senior study author and chief of research at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, said.
“We found an increased risk of cardiovascular problems in old people and in young people, in people with diabetes and without diabetes, in people with obesity and people without obesity, in people who smoked and who never smoked.
“What really worries me is that some of these conditions are chronic conditions that will literally scar people for a lifetime,” he said. “It’s not like you wake up tomorrow and suddenly no longer have heart failure.”
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It comes after another study found that those that battled the infection are more at risk of a life-threatening condition that already affects five million Brits.
They were 46 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes for the first time in the year following a positive test.
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The finding is true even for people who had less severe symptoms, or none at all.
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