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Heart damage found in coronavirus patients months after recovering from COVID-19, study says

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  john-russell  •  4 years ago  •  8 comments

By:   Adrianna Rodriguez (YahooNews)

Heart damage found in coronavirus patients months after recovering from COVID-19, study says
Two German studies found heart abnormalities in COVID-19 patients months after they had already recovered from the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



New evidence suggests the coronavirus has lasting impacts on the heart, raising alarm for cardiologists who have been concerned about potential long-term heart injury from COVID-19.

Two German studies, published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Cardiology, found heart abnormalities in COVID-19 patients months after they had already recovered from the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.

The first study included 100 patients from the University of Hospital Frankfurt COVID-19 Registry who were relatively healthy adults in their 40s and 50s. About one-third of the patients required hospitalization, while the rest recovered from home.

Researchers looked at cardiac magnetic resonance imaging taken nearly two and a half months after they were diagnosed and compared them with images from people who never had COVID-19. The study found heart abnormalities in 78 patients, with 60 of those patients showing signs of inflammation in the heart muscle from the virus.

"When this came to our attention, we were struck," said Dr. Clyde Yancy, chief cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and an editor at JAMA Cardiology.

The findings would have been virtually impossible to pinpoint without this study, as the majority of patients didn't exhibit any symptoms and these specific abnormalities detected by the MRI wouldn't have been seen on an echocardiogram, which is more commonly used in the standard clinical setting.

Experts say the prevalence of inflammation is an important connection to COVID-19 as the disease has a clinical reputation for a high inflammatory response. Dr. Thomas Maddox, chair of the American College of Cardiology's Science and Quality Committee, said heart inflammation could lead to weakening of the heart muscle and, in rare cases, abnormal heart beats.

Yancy said inflammation is the first prerequisite for heart failure and, over a longer period of time, could "leave important residual damage" that could "set up the scenario" for other forms of heart disease.

"We're not saying that COVID-19 causes heart failure… but it presents early evidence that there's potentially injury to the heart," Yancy said.

Maddox says the study contributes to growing evidence to suggest that heart injury in COVID-19 patients may be a "bystander effect" of the overall inflammatory reaction to the virus instead of direct viral invasion of the heart.

Although the inflammation is indicative of COVID-19, Dr. Paul Cremer, a cardiovascular imager at the Cleveland Clinic, says having imaging before patients were sick could have strengthened the study's argument that the disease could have caused these heart abnormalities.

"Seeing inflammation in the heart muscle… it's hard to think of other causes because of COVID-19, but I think it needs to be validated in other studies," he said.

The findings come after a Cleveland Clinic study published July 9 in the medical journal JAMA Network Open spotlighted a number of cases of "broken heart syndrome," or stress cardiomyopathy, doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stress cardiomyopathy occurs in response to physical or emotional distress and causes dysfunction or failure in the heart muscle. Experts say more research is needed to understand the implications of these studies and their long-term effect on the heart.

"We need to understand longer term clinical symptoms and outcome that might occur in patients who've had it and recovered," Maddox said. "That will just take some time to look at as more and more people get the infection and recover."

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19 patients suffer heart injury months after recovery: new study


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JohnRussell
Professor Principal
1  seeder  JohnRussell    4 years ago

Not to be alarmist but this sounds kind of alarming. 

The first study included 100 patients from the University of Hospital Frankfurt COVID-19 Registry who were relatively healthy adults in their 40s and 50s. About one-third of the patients required hospitalization, while the rest recovered from home. Researchers looked at cardiac magnetic resonance imaging taken nearly two and a half months after they were diagnosed and compared them with images from people who never had COVID-19. The study found heart abnormalities in 78 patients, with 60 of those patients showing signs of inflammation in the heart muscle from the virus.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2  Kavika     4 years ago

IMO, the medical profession is going to find many things that the virus is damaging in many that catch the virus.

This is another not so subtle reminder that we have a long way to go in finding out about COVID and it's aftermath.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Kavika @2    4 years ago

If there are large numbers of long lasting negative effects from the virus this could be a calamity beyond anything they have been talking about so far. 

 
 
 
shona1
PhD Quiet
2.2  shona1  replied to  Kavika @2    4 years ago

A/noon Kavika..I thought the same as well, not to mention the damage to lungs etc...This is all unchartered waters for all of us and will just have to make the best of it...We are in dire straits, had a massive outbreak in Melbourne..600 infections and approx 10 deaths a day. Melbourne is in lock down and wearing face masks is mandatory or it is a $200 fine. As of Sunday wearing of masks is going to be State wide. I still have to go to Melbourne for treatment etc and just do the best I  can to remain germ free..though not so much of a problem now as my immune system is back to normal...The rest of Australia has done really well and hope your rellies are safe in NSW...and you and your wife to..When ever I hear Florida I think of you....

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2.2.1  Kavika   replied to  shona1 @2.2    4 years ago

Hi Shona, 

I've been reading about the outbreak in Melbourne plus my kids and grandkids have been keeping me up to date on it. 

Yesterday in Florida we have 9982 new cases and 265 deaths. It's is close to being completely out of control here. 

Good to hear that your immune system is back to normal. Be as careful as you can when you have to travel to Melbourne. 

All is well with the kids, gkids and ggkids in NWS and the few that are in WA are doing well. 

We're laying low and doing everything possible to keep ourselves safe in this pandemic.

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
2.3  Perrie Halpern R.A.  replied to  Kavika @2    4 years ago
IMO, the medical profession is going to find many things that the virus is damaging in many that catch the virus.

I have to agree with you and I have been saying this all along. We, cat owners, know what a novel coronavirus can do to the immune systems. I am hoping we don't get more surprises down the pike. 

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
2.3.1  pat wilson  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @2.3    4 years ago
We, cat owners, know what a novel coronavirus can do

Are cat owners more susceptible to coronavirus ?

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
2.4  Gordy327  replied to  Kavika @2    4 years ago

There's a lot we still don't know about Covid, including long term after effects from infection. I read somewhere that lung and kidney damage can also result from a Covid infection.

 
 

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