Can COVID-19 Affect the Heart?

Aside from attacking the respiratory tract that threatens humanity, COVID-19 has several effects on the entire world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the pandemic is disrupting the economy and society devastatingly. WHO emphasized the tens and millions of people at risk failing to extreme poverty, and the number of undernourished people will escalate by the end of the year. COVID-19 also causes stress that is bad for the citizens' health and can disrupt the people mentally with fear and sadness.

(Photo: Ben Kerckx )

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Another concern of the experts is the linkage COVID-19 has with heart disease even though it is a respiratory virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), having serious heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, and pulmonary hypertension can increase the patient's risk to COVID-19.

American Heart Association said a growing number of studies suggest that COVID-19 survivors experience heart concerns even without underlying heart disease and not eligible to be hospitalized. They added that more than of the COVID-19 positive patients who were hospitalized had been diagnosed with cardiovascular complications, which contributed coarsely 40%of all COVID-19-related mortality.

A recent review from the American College of Cardiology notes evidence of heart involvement in at least 25% of hospitalized patients diagnosed with the disease.

In an interview with American Heart Association, Dr. Mina Chung, a cardiologist, and professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University said that many people are feeling exhausted. It is difficult to identify if the lungs are taking a little time to heal or whether it is a cardiac issue.

How Does Coronavirus Affect the Heart?

According to Hackensack Meridian Health, COVID-19 primarily attacks the lungs. However, it can cause your body to produce an overactive immune response that can increase inflammation throughout the body. They added that Myocarditis could harm the heart's ability to pump blood and may lead to serious problems like abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure, and heart muscle disease.

One study found evidence found the Coronavirus in the hearts of COVID-19 positive patients who died from a respiratory disease called pneumonia. In an interview with American Heart Association, Dr. Gregg Fonarow, Chief of the Division of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that patients who experienced a cardiac injury raised concerns about individuals who get the initial infection but also experienced cardiovascular damage and complications.

According to Harvard Medical School Physicians Peter Libby and Paul Ridker, the way Coronavirus provokes cardiac injury is neither new nor surprising. They mentioned research showing respiratory infections such as flu triggering heart attacks. They also stressed that viral infection might unmask the previously undiagnosed heart diseases. In an interview with The Harvard Gazette, Eugene Braunwald, a medicine professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said that Coronavirus is like a stress test for the hearing.

In an interview with The Philadelphia Tribune, Dr. Tomm Maddox and an American College of Cardiology board member said it's unclear if COVID-19 can cause a normal heart to dysfunction.

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