Scientists have found how much the coronavirus carried “on its feet” increases the risk of death

There is more and more evidence that even a mild form of COVID significantly increases not only the risk of severe complications for the body, but also the risk of mortality. British scientists have found that even an outpatient COVID increases the chances of dying from any cause over the next year by 10.23 times! And in Japan, meanwhile, they calculated with what severity of symptoms the sick died in the fifth (summer 2021), sixth (early 2022) and seventh (summer 2022) waves of the epidemic. With severe symptoms, 42% died in the fifth, 13% in the sixth and only 5% in the seventh wave. 89% of those who died in the seventh wave had mild symptoms.

COVID-19 has become one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. There are already many studies that have shown an association between COVID-19 and an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes even after recovery from an acute illness.

Scientists from the William Harvey Research Institute and Queen Mary University of London studied the association between COVID-19 cases and cardiovascular events in 17,871 patients with data available from the UK Biobank between March 2020 and 2021.

Each case of COVID-19 was matched to two uninfected controls for age, sex, body mass index, ethnicity, diabetes, advanced coronary heart disease (CHD), smoking, hypertension, and high cholesterol. In each group, cases of myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, venous thromboembolism, pericarditis, death from all causes, etc. were studied. Participants were followed up to the first episode of a particular outcome, death, or the end of follow-up.

The scientists concluded that even an easily tolerated COVID-19, which did not require hospitalization, not only increases the risk of death from any cause tenfold, and 2.74 times the risk of venous thrombosis with any outcome. Participants hospitalized with COVID-19 had an increased risk of all outcomes considered, regardless of baseline demographic and cardiometabolic factors. It turned out that hospitalization for COVID increases the risk of thrombosis by 27.6 times, heart failure by 21.6 times, and stroke by 17.5 times. The risk of myocardial infarction was increased by almost 15 times, pericarditis by almost 14 times, and atrial fibrillation by almost 10 times. Those who were hospitalized with COVID had a 118-fold increased risk of death from all causes (!), death from cardiovascular diseases by almost 9 times, and death from coronary heart disease by more than 14 times during the year.

The researchers note that the risk of most cardiovascular events is highest in the early post-infection period. Maximum risk – within 30 days after infection. Atrial fibrillation, venous thromboembolism, and heart failure were the three most common cardiovascular diseases that developed in patients during or after COVID.

Of particular concern is the risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) after suffering COVID. “We found a significantly increased risk of VTE in both hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients, which remained elevated throughout the follow-up period,” the paper says. Scientists from Scotland, Sweden, and the USA have come to similar conclusions so far. A recent analysis of almost 1 million cases of COVID-19 in four European countries showed a marked increase in venous and arterial thrombosis in both hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients, as well as a range of cardiovascular outcomes across all disease severity levels. “In the UK, in connection with the latest data, low molecular weight heparin is recommended as a prevention of thrombolytic complications in all hospitalized patients with COVID-19 for at least 7 days,” says cardiologist Dmitry Okhlopkov. – In our hospitals, it is also used, but not everywhere, and outpatients are sometimes prescribed anticoagulants. Given the increased risk of thromboembolism in survivors of any severity of COVID-19, consideration should be given to prophylactic administration of such drugs after infection. But, of course, taking into account the individual health indicators of patients and their contraindications. Today, research is underway in the world about the justification for prescribing long-term prophylactic anticoagulation in patients after COVID-19, we will wait for the results.”

The long-term effects of exposure to COVID-19 are emerging as a major public health concern. “Our results suggest an increased cardiovascular risk in individuals with past infection, which is likely to be higher in countries with limited access to vaccination and therefore a greater population exposure to COVID-19,” the British scientists write.

Meanwhile, Japanese scientists have released new statistics showing that more people are dying after developing mild symptoms of COVID-19. Japan’s National Center for Global Health and Medicine reported that 89% of those who died from COVID in the latest wave had mild symptoms. The center claims that in Japan, as vaccination rates rise, a smaller percentage of COVID-19 patients develop severe pneumonia, while more people die because the coronavirus causes the illnesses they already have to worsen. “The point is probably in the classification of the severity of the disease, according to which severe symptoms are considered to be a decrease in oxygen saturation in the blood below 94, an increase in breathing over 30 per minute, lung damage> 50%. Omicron, on the other hand, affects the lungs much less often and causes respiratory distress syndrome. The virus obviously kills differently now. Dying people die easier. True, the question arises, how many deaths from COVID in the form of general malaise plus a heart attack / stroke, for example, are not classified as deaths from COVID specifically (especially if no one did the tests)? – notes analyst Emil Izgin.