They compared them to millions of veterans who had been treated for other conditions.

Clearly, some people are not out of the woods and theyre still experiencing serious problems.

People recovered from COVID-19 were 63% more likely to experience a cardiovascular outcome, according to the data.

This means 45 out of every 1,000 participants in the study had heart health problems attributed to COVID-19.

The study also showed that the risk of cardiovascular disease increases with the severity of the COVID-19 infection.

The COVID-19 group had an increased risk ofstrokeby 52%.

Out of every 1,000 participants, four more people experienced stroke post-infection than those who were COVID-free.

Prior studies have suggested poor cardiovascular outcomes in people who recovered from COVID-19 after being hospitalized.

The new findings build on this, indicating that even non-hospitalized individuals experienced long-term cardiovascular events.

It was really almost like an equal opportunity offender.

We assume these results are true for all subgroups, Pereira said.

But its a problem because the representation of these subgroups is small.

I would say that maybe this is a signal, but its uncertain.

Pereira added that the study group was relatively unhealthy.

How Does COVID-19 Affect Heart Health?

Whats not clear from this paper is, Is this something unique about COVID?

COVID-19 is a respiratory virus and doesnt typically attack cells in the heart like viralmyocarditisdoes.

Plaque that was already in the blood vessels could rupture, leading to a heart attack or stroke.

This study was conducted before the availability of COVID-19 vaccines.

Now, three-quarters of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated.

Vaccines are extremely effective at reducing your risk of a severe infectionof hospitalization or death, Lloyd-Jones said.

By doing that, theyre automatically reducing your risk for the sequelae [i.e.

after effects] that come afterthese heart attacks or strokes that could happen after an infection.

We dropped the ball on COVID, he added.

Lets not drop the ball on long COVID.

For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.

Xie Y, Xu E, Bowe B, Al-Aly Z.Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19.Nat Med.

2019;139(20):2326-2338. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.035966

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States.