COVID-19: Study suggests heart defects may not increase severe coronavirus risk

A new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association revealed that people with heart problems have a very low possibility of developing moderate or severe COVID-19 symptoms. However, at the same time, the study warned that elderly patients with ‘similar congenital conditions might have a different risk profile’. According to heart.org, one should not let their guard down and stick to the simple things in order to battle the virus. 

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Relation between heart disease and the deadly virus 

As a part of the study, scientists from the Columbia University Irving Medical Center performed a retrospective analysis of more than 7,000 patients. All these patients belonged to the congenital heart disease center at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in the United States. The study co-author Matthew Lewis said, “At the beginning of the pandemic, many feared that congenital heart disease would be as big a risk factor for severe COVID-19 as adult-onset cardiovascular disease”. He added, “We were reassured by the low number of congenital heart patients who required hospitalisation for Covid-19 and the relatively good outcomes of these patients”. 

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It was concluded that only 53 congenital heart patients, out of which 43 were adults and 10 were children, less than 0.8 per cent experienced symptoms of the deadly virus from March to the month of June. Also, more than 80 per cent of the patients showed mild symptoms, whereas nine people developed moderate symptoms. A total of three patients died. However, the study is being considered as a ‘sample’ as scientists believe congenital heart disease alone may not be enough to increase the risk of severe symptoms of the novel coronavirus. Brett Anderson, another co-author of the study from Columbia University said, “It's possible that elderly patients with congenital heart disease might have a different risk profile than the general population”. He added, “We have yet to define what those risk factors are”.

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