Study finds COVID-19 may cause heart attack, even when you have recovered

A recent study shows that even when a coronavirus patient has recovered from the deadly virus, he may be at risk of complications like heart failure and sudden cardiac death.

Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that several people who recovered from COVID-19, have heart inflammation (myocarditis).

In Germany, an MRI scan of the heart was performed around 100 people who had recovered from the virus some of those who were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.

Results revealed that out of these, 78 percent of patients had ongoing heart abnormalities while 60 percent had myocarditis. The findings also revealed that myocarditis is not age-specific, young people, who have recovered from the coronavirus, may develop heart problems.

These findings indicate the need for ongoing investigation of the long-term cardiovascular consequences of COVID-19, research concluded. The lead investigator Elike Nagel said, “My personal take is that COVID-19 will increase the incidence of heart failure over the next decades."

Earlier, an 11-year-old child with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, died of myocarditis and heart failure, the Lancet reported. An autopsy identified coronavirus particles as the cause of the child's death.

In another case, 27-year-old American baseball player Eduardo Rodriguez, who recovered from the virus, will not play this season after he developed myocarditis. Multiple college football players have possibly developed myocarditis from Covid-19, putting the entire college football landscape in jeopardy, the New York Times reported.

Researchers are still figuring out how SARS-CoV-2 causes myocarditis and whether it is through the virus directly injuring the heart or whether it is from the poisonous immune reaction that it stimulates.