COVID-19 may increase risk of death years after infection: Study.

 COVID-19 could increase the risk of major cardiac events, like strokes and heart attacks, according to a study from the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California; the University of California, Los Angeles; and Cleveland Clinic released Wednesday. The findings revealed individuals with A, B and AB blood types that contracted a severe version of COVID-19 are more likely to have future heart problems than people with an O blood type who had a severe version of COVID-19.

“This study underscores that we should consider history of prior COVID-19 infection when formulating cardiovascular disease preventive plans and goals,” said co-senior author Stanley Hazen.  The study, which took place for 1,003 days, showed patients hospitalized for COVID-19 who had no history of heart disease had the same or slightly higher risk of a major cardiac event than people with heart disease who did not get COVID-19.

The researchers utilized data from 10,005 unvaccinated people in the UK Biobank who had COVID-19 and 217,730 people who did not get infected between Feb. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020. The researchers then looked for links between severity of COVID-19 infection and major cardiac events over about three years.

Researchers discovered COVID-19 hospitalization can be considered a coronary artery disease (CAD) risk equivalent, a term for a condition that increases risk for future strokes, heart attacks and other problems.