People, who have had COVID-19, are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications within the first month to a year after infection, report a study.

The researchers showed that COVID amplified the risk of heart disease among people who were clearly at risk for a heart condition before becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2. But most remarkably, people who have never had any heart problems and were considered low risk are also developing heart problems after COVID-19.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Medicine, showed that heart disease, including heart failure and death, occurred in 4 per cent more people than those who had not been infected with COVID-19, which can roughly be translated as 3 million people in the US who have suffered cardiovascular complications due to COVID.

Compared with those in the control groups without any infections, people who contracted COVID-19 were 72 per cent more likely to suffer from coronary artery disease, 63 per cent more likely to have a heart attack, and 52 per cent more likely to experience a stroke. Overall, those infected with the virus were 55 per cent more likely than those without COVID-19 to suffer a major adverse cardiovascular event, which includes heart attack, stroke, and death.

"COVID-19 can lead to serious cardiovascular complications and death. The heart does not regenerate or easily mend after heart damage. These are diseases that will affect people for a lifetime," said Ziyad Al-Aly, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University in St.Louis. More than 380 million people globally have been infected with the virus since the pandemic started.

"Consequently, COVID-19 infections have, thus far, contributed to 15 million new cases of heart disease worldwide," said Al-Aly. "This is quite significant. For anyone who has had an infection, it is essential that heart health be an integral part of post-acute COVID care." The researchers created a controlled dataset that included health information of 153,760 people who had tested positive for COVID-19 sometime from March 1, 2020, through January 15, 2021, and who had survived the first 30 days of the disease.

The findings emphasise the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 as a way to prevent heart damage, Al-Aly said. He also advised governments and health systems around the world to get prepared to deal with the likely significant contribution of the COVID-19 pandemic to a rise in the burden of cardiovascular diseases.