“Studies show that even young, active people may be at increased risk for these complications.”
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high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Diabetes, obesity: These are some of the well-known risk factors that can put people at increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Now, some medical experts say COVID-19 should be added to that list.
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Early in the pandemic, experts began to understand COVID-19 as a vascular disease rather than just a respiratory disease.
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“Today, we have a better understanding of the nature of the novel coronavirus,” says Dr. Peter Liu, chief scientific officer and associate director of research at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. “The new coronavirus damages the lining of blood vessels.”
This impacts cardiovascular health, said Liu, who is also a researcher at Heart & Stroke, which supports research, awareness and prevention campaigns in Canada.
In fact, Liu says there is a growing movement to view COVID-19 as an additional risk factor for cardiovascular disease, along with other well-known factors such as high cholesterol and high cholesterol. Diabetes.
“It can cause inflammation of the blood vessels and increase the risk of blood clots. We know that over time, it can increase the risk of things like heart attack, stroke, and heart failure,” Liu says.
It is well known that high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking are among the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and some experts recommend treating past severe COVID-19 infections as separate infections. I hope so, Liu added.
Heart & Stroke encourages doctors and patients to talk about recent coronavirus infections related to cardiovascular disease. Liu said it’s important for people with risk factors to do everything they can to minimize their risk.
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“Cardiovascular disease can be silent, so it’s important to measure your blood pressure and do further screening for cardiovascular disease if you have concerns,” Liu says.
And Heart & Stroke says it’s not just people with pre-existing cardiovascular risk factors or those who are medically vulnerable who are at potential risk from the coronavirus.
“There doesn’t seem to be any difference in the severity of infection,” Liu said. “These complications can occur even in people with very mild symptoms. The big surprise is how much this affects young people. Studies show that young, active people We know that there may be an increased risk of these complications.”
Medical experts have linked the recent coronavirus infection to an increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure, and myocarditis (inflammation of the heart). The mRNA COVID-19 vaccine may also increase the risk of myocarditis, but the risk from COVID-19 is greater than the risk from the vaccine.
A 2022 study published in Frontiers of Cardiovascular Medicine found that the risk of myocarditis in people infected with COVID-19 was more than seven times higher than in people who were vaccinated. .
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Similarly, the risk of developing blood clots after a COVID-19 infection is many times higher than after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, Liu said.
“So when it comes to COVID-19, the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks, especially now that we realize how insidious and harmful COVID-19 is to our cardiovascular systems. doing.”
COVID-19 also affects other body systems, including the nervous system.
Almost four years into the global pandemic, Liu said it’s worrying to hear people dismissing COVID-19 as just a cold.
“The message here is that if you can help it, you don’t want to get COVID-19,” he says.
Even if you do get infected, vaccines can reduce complications, and wearing a mask and following other public health advice can reduce the risk of getting infected in the first place, he said.
More than 11 per cent of Canadians are experiencing long-term symptoms from COVID-19, according to recent information from Statistics Canada. A recent study published in the journal Nature found that children vaccinated against COVID-19 can be infected with the long coronavirus, which lasts for years. It turned out to be less sensitive.
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Most regions in Ontario are seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases after months of relatively high transmissibility. The latest wave of COVID-19 is driven, in part, by low uptake of modern vaccines and new, more transmissible subvariants.
Health officials are urging people to protect themselves with masks and vaccines and to stay home if they are infected.
“I don’t think we will eradicate the coronavirus, so we need to protect ourselves from it,” Liu said.
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