Even after Covid recovery, seniors may face heart risks

Even after Covid recovery, seniors may face heart risks

Ambika Pandit & Sushmi Dey

TNN

New Delhi:  08.11.2020 

Patients infected with Covid-19 — mainly those above 50 and those with co-morbidities — may be at higher risk of heart disorders, prompting doctors to advise proper monitoring of blood parameters during the infection and even after recovery.

While a recent editorial in the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) says around 60-70% patients infected with the viral disease have cardiac involvement or injury, doctors say it is more common among high-risk groups like those above 50 years of age or with co-morbidities. Besides, those who have higher DDimer during infection may face blood clotting even after recovery.

“Heart disorders are not that significantly high if we look at overall infection numbers but there are certainly significant number of cases with cardiac problems and even heart attacks in patients in the high-risk group – which means people above 50 years of age and especially those with pre-existing heart disease, diabetes or kidney disorders,” says Dr J P S Sawhney, chairman, cardiology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Even among young people, if the D-Dimer (a blood parameter) is high during the infection and a blood thinner has not been administered, the patient is likely to face a heart disorder in future – even months after recovery from Covid-19. Dr Sawhney emphasised the need to monitor blood parameter D-Dimer even in case of patients with mild symptoms and being treated in home isolation.

However, all the complications may not be long lasting. “Major cardiac involvement like heart attacks and heart failure complicate Covid in under 5% cases while several patients may have mild or sub clinical myocarditis, the long-term effects of which are yet to be seen,” says Dr Atul Mathur, director – interventional cardiology and chief of cath labs at Fortis.

In the IJMR editorial, authors call for a baseline, focused clinical screening with routine laboratories and troponin testing in all individuals with documented Covid-19 infection. In an editorial titled “Covid cardiomyopathy: Is it time to involve the cardiologists?”, the authors state that recent literature demonstrates the worse overall outcomes in patients with cardiac involvement. They recommend that cardiologists need to play an important role in both the shortand long-term management of these patients.

They further explain that symptomatic individuals typically present pulmonary complaints that range from minor flu-like disease to severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

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Doctors say cardiac involvement or injury is more common among high-risk groups infected with Covid, like those above 50 years of age or with co-morbidities