Covid-19, flu can increase the risk of heart attack: Study

A number of viral infections, including flu, Covid-19 and shingles, are linked to an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, a new study affirmed.

- Nina Agrawal

The risk of a heart attack triples within the first few weeks after a Covid-19 infection, the study suggested, and quadruples in the month after a flu infection.

The study, published on Oct 29 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, was a large review and analysis of existing research.

"It endorses a general idea that we've been thinking about and talking about for the past several years - that infections are generally not benign," said Dr Ziyad Al-Aly, a senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St Louis, who was not involved in the study.

"It may start as a respiratory virus, but that's really the tip of the iceberg, and it has downstream ramifications in multiple organ systems, specifically in this case in the cardiovascular space," Dr Al-Aly added.

The new analysis set out to document the relationship between viral infection and heart disease in the light of growing evidence about the effects of Covid-19 on cardiovascular health, said Dr Kosuke Kawai, an associate adjunct professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and the lead author of the paper.

The review included more than 150 studies. Although they varied in size and methodology, the studies were consistent in showing an association between viral infections and heart disease and stroke.

Multiple studies have shown that Covid-19 infection increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack and stroke.

This increase is most pronounced around the time of initial infection and for those with the most severe cases.