The American Heart Association highlighted Friday findings indicating that the coronavirus could cause more heart damage than previously thought.
The AHA says that inflammation of the vascular system and injury to the heart occur in 20 to 30 percent of all patients with hospital coronavirus. Heart failure results in 40% of all deaths related to coronavirus, said the American Heart Association.
Studies have suggested that 8 to 12 percent of all coronavirus infections are caused by heart attacks. There is also concern that the resulting heartbeat poses a greater risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular-related diseases, even after recovery.
“Much remains to be learned about COVID-19 infection and the heart. Although we think of the lungs as the primary target, there are often high levels of biomarkers observed in infected patients that are normally associated with acute heartbeat. In addition, several devastating complications of COVID-19 are at heart in nature and can result in persistent heart function outside of the course of the viral disease itself, ‘said Mitchell SV Elkind, president of the American Heart Association.
The American Heart Associated is working with 150 American hospitals and 14,000 patients to better understand the impact of the virus on the heart.
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