A study to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session “Together With the World Congress of Cardiology” has found that long COVID, which is characterized by lasting symptoms after COVID-19 infection, can more than double a person’s likelihood of developing cardiovascular issues.
Experiencing lasting symptoms months after catching COVID-19, also known as long COVID, was found to more than double a person’s likelihood of developing cardiovascular issues. This is according to a study that will be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology.
The study—a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of 11 major studies involving a total of 5.8 million people—represents the most comprehensive effort to date to examine cardiovascular complications from long COVID. Estimates of the number of people affected by long COVID vary substantially, but recent surveys suggest about 1 in 7 people in the U.S. have experienced long COVID.
Researchers found consistent evidence that individuals with long COVID were significantly more likely than those who never had COVID-19 to experience symptoms associated with heart problems such as chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, and fatigue, and more likely to show markers of heart disease or elevated cardiovascular risk in medical imaging and diagnostic tests.
“COVID-19 is more than a simple respiratory disease—it is a syndrome that can affect the heart,” said Joanna Lee, a medical student at David Tvildiani Medical University in Tbilisi, Georgia, scholar at the Global Remote Research Scholars Program (GRRSP) and the study’s lead author. “Clinicians should be aware that cardiac complications can exist and investigate further if a patient complains of these symptoms, even a long time after contracting COVID-19. For patients, if you had COVID-19 and you continue to have difficulty breathing or any kind of new heart problems, you should go to the doctor and get it checked out.”
GRRSP researchers systematically screened a total of 982 studies published between 2020-2022 and selected 74 studies for a thorough review. Of these, they identified 11 studies that included data on cardiovascular outcomes among people with long COVID as well as a control group of participants who never had COVID-19.
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