Because of this, experts say that people who already have plaque in their arteries - like many smokers and those with high blood pressure and cholesterol - also have the greatest risk of a Covid-induced heart attack. For people who have plaque built up in their arteries, the inflammation can cause that plaque to break apart, creating a blood clot and causing a heart attack or stroke. Part of the immune system’s response to infection or injury is to release proteins that cause inflammation and blood clotting. So could that be the mechanism by which there’s increased risk? Maybe.” “We know that infectious diseases, particularly severe Covid-19 infections, lead to inflammation. Luke Laffin, a cardiologist and co-director of the Center for Blood Pressure Disorders at the Cleveland Clinic. “We know that inflammation itself increases our cardiovascular risk,” said Dr. How Covid can immediately affect the heartĬardiologists’ leading theory for how Covid damages the heart and causes cardiovascular events is that it stimulates widespread inflammation. “What is that connection? That’s the million dollar question.” Susan Cheng, the chair of cardiovascular health and population science at Cedars-Sinai, who led the study on heart attack deaths. “There’s a very unique connection between this virus and the cardiovascular system,” said Dr. Experts are now trying to understand why. In addition to the complications that can occur during the acute phase of a Covid infection, there appears to be an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and other problems up to a year after an infection.

But physicians and researchers now have little doubt that Covid-19 itself was a factor. Some of these cardiovascular-related fatalities may have happened because it was harder to access medical care during the height of the pandemic. In fact, a study found that the sharpest rise in deaths from heart attack during that period occurred in 25- to 44-year-olds. But heart-related deaths also increased dramatically in younger adults. The majority of these occurred in people 65 and older - the age group with the highest risk for cardiovascular complications. During the first two years of the pandemic, from March 2020 to March 2022, there were approximately 90,000 more deaths in the United States attributed to cardiovascular disease than were expected for that span of time.

Vaccine after effects covid