A new study from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has found that people with long COVID are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
The findings, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, show that the risk of developing conditions such as heart rhythm disorders and coronary artery disease is higher even among those who were not hospitalized during the acute infection.
Long COVID has become an increasingly important health problem worldwide, and a growing number of studies indicate that this condition can lead to secondary cardiovascular diseases.
So far, research has focused mainly on people who have been hospitalized, while the risks to those who have stayed at home or been treated by a family doctor are less well known.
In the current study, researchers investigated how frequently major cardiovascular events occurred in these individuals compared to those without the diagnosis.
Of the just over 1.2 million people aged 18 to 65 included in the study, approximately 9,000 were diagnosed with long COVID, representing 0.7%. Two-thirds of these were women. Individuals with a history of cardiovascular disease or hospitalization due to COVID-19 were excluded from this group.
During the follow-up period of approximately four years, those with long COVID were more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, with 18.2% of women and 20.6% of men experiencing some form of cardiovascular event, compared to 8.4% of women and 11.1% of men in the group without long COVID.
When the researchers then adjusted the results after taking into account factors such as age, socioeconomic status, and other known risk factors, the differences remained.
Women with long COVID were more than twice as likely to receive a cardiovascular diagnosis compared to women without the condition. Men, on the other hand, had a nearly one-third higher risk.
Lead author Pia Lindberg, a doctoral student in the Department of Medicine at the Karolinska Institute, says: "We found that heart rhythm disorders and coronary artery disease were more common among both women and men with long COVID."
Among women, there was also an increased risk of heart failure and peripheral vascular disease. However, no clear link was found between long COVID and stroke.
Because many people with long COVID never needed to be hospitalized during the acute infection they had, there is a risk of overlooking secondary cases, Lindberg says, noting that the findings show these patients may need more systematic monitoring.
Lindbergh concludes: "Our results show that long COVID can be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, even in young people who were previously healthy. This underscores the need for systematic follow-up that takes into account gender differences, especially since cardiovascular disease in women often presents with more widespread symptoms that can make diagnosis more difficult."
