It is being widely reported that people with no previous heart conditions are reporting cardiac ailments after the COVID-19 pandemic. A study in the Journal of American Medica Association (JAMA) says 78 per cent of respondents said they experienced heart-related problems after contracting COVID-19.
An important facet of such heart ailments is that most of the patients had not undergone hospitalisation due to COVID.
The echocardiograms of people who were cured of COVID showed that the pumping capacity of the heart had reduced, said George Thayil, head of Cardiology, Lourdes Hospital, Kochi. Also, troponin, a protein which affects the myocardial tissue, was found in excess, Dr. Thayil said. “All this point to acute myocardial condition,” he said.
For those with a cardiac history, the prognosis is getting complex with COVID, he said. This happens in two ways: with a reduction in blood oxygen levels after COVID; and with the possible rupture of blocks in the coronary artery, thereby causing heart attacks, he said.
