A patient receives a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at Sparrow Laboratories Drive-Thru Services in Lansing, Michigan, December 27, 2021.
Emily Elconin | Reuters
Individuals who caught mild cases of Covid-19 in the course of the first 12 months of the pandemic had a better risk of developing blood clots than those that weren’t infected, in line with a big study published by British scientists this week.
Patients with mild Covid, defined as those not hospitalized, were 2.7 times more more likely to develop blood clots, in line with the study published within the British Medical Journal’s Heart on Monday. They were also 10 times more more likely to die than individuals who didn’t have Covid.
Scientists affiliated with Queen Mary University of London followed 18,000 individuals who caught Covid in the course of the first 12 months of the pandemic and compared their health outcomes with nearly 34,000 individuals who didn’t.
Participants were tracked until they developed heart problems, died or until the study resulted in March 2021. A lot of the study was conducted before the vaccines rolled out within the U.K. in December 2020.
While individuals with mild Covid had an increased risk of blood clots, patients hospitalized with the virus had a significantly higher risk of heart problems normally. The danger of heart problems for mild and severe cases was highest in the primary 30 days after infection but continued later.
Patients hospitalized with Covid were 28 times more more likely to develop blood clots, 22 times more more likely to suffer heart failure, and17 times more more likely to have a stroke, in line with the study. Overall, they were greater than 100 times more more likely to die than individuals who did not have Covid.
The scientists said their findings highlight the importance of monitoring even individuals who had mild Covid for heart problems over the the long run.
“Our findings highlight the increased cardiovascular risk of people with past infection, that are more likely to be greater in countries with limited access to vaccination and thus greater population exposure to COVID-19,” the authors of the study wrote.
