Research Assessment 5

Arihan Gupta
10/19/20
Cardiothoracic Surgery
MLA:
Ries, Julia. "What We Know About COVID-19 and Long-Term Heart Damage",
Healthline. 19 October, 2020

Response:
With the outbreak of the Coronavirus Pandemic, it has become increasingly more
likely that the disease leaves some trace in the patient’s health; recently, that trace is
said to be found in the patient’s heart’s health.
COVID can impact the patient's heart in one of two ways; either it leads to
“inflammation throughout the body” which impedes on heart function by weakening
muscle, causing abnormalities in rhythm, and creates blood clots. This is detrimental
because these conditions either require extensive time or surgery to heal and often
causes a sudden change in lifestyle. Additionally, it can “invade receptor cells” causing
“direct viral harm.” When this happens, the patient is put at risk of complete heart
failure. THe amount of damage done is often dependent on “viral inoculum, or infecting
dose of virus, a person’s immune response, and the presence of comorbidities.”
One of the reasons this is significant is because there is a large possibility of
people who have no underlying conditions to be subject to new underlying conditions
that often linger for as long as the patient lives.
Worse yet, people with underlying conditions of heart disease are at a greater
risk, with factors such as “hypertension, dysglycemia, dyslipidemia, and abnormal
adiposity” causing worsened conditions for the patient during and after COVID,
Traditionally, a high blood pressure is the most dangerous indicator, with more that 2.5
times the standard mortality rate for “people over 60.”
This goes to show the importance of cardiovascular health. Maintaining a healthy
lifestyle through a health diet and routine exercise can help improve cardiac health and
in a climate where the presence of a deadly virus has become the new norm, it is
essential to maintain good cardiac health. Doing so can help decrease the chance of
mortality from the virus, from heart conditions, and from complexities caused later by a
worsened condition via the virus.
 How COVID impacts the cardiovascular system

COVID-19 is thought to damage the heart in two ways.

First, the infection can lead to widespread inflammation throughout the body, which can
hurt the functioning of the heart.

“COVID-19 infection triggers inflammation in the body that may lead to weakening the
heart muscle, abnormalities of the heart rhythm, and even cause clot formation in blood
vessels,” says Dwivedi.

Second, the virus may directly invade receptor cells, known as ACE2 receptors, within
the myocardial tissue and cause direct viral harm.

“It also can affect the heart muscle itself through inflammation or direct invasion of the
heart muscle cells and lead to significant heart failure,” says Dr. Benjamin J. Hirsh, the
director of preventive cardiology at Northwell Health’s Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital
in Manhasset, New York.

According to the researchers, the amount of damage inflicted on the heart depends on
the amount of viral inoculum, or infecting dose of virus, a person’s immune response,
and the presence of comorbidities.

Though the risk is higher in people with underlying heart conditions, even healthy
people have reported heart damage after beating COVID-19.

Those with preexisting heart issues have a greater risk

The main risk factors, according to the research papers, are hypertension (high blood
pressure), dysglycemia (high blood glucose levels), dyslipidemia (high cholesterol), and
abnormal adiposity (obesity).

Hypertension is thought to be the greatest risk factor. According to one of the studies,
hypertension was linked to a 2.5-fold greater risk of COVID-19 severity and mortality,
particularly in people over 60.

“One of the most crucial lessons we have learned is that people whose cardiovascular
health is compromised are very susceptible to worse outcomes with COVID-19,” says
Hirsh.
Dr. Hyung Chun, a Yale Medicine cardiologist and director of translational research of
the Yale Pulmonary Vascular Disease Program, says one emerging belief is that the
endothelial cellsTrusted Source, which lines the blood vessels, in people with cardiac
issues respond differently to the body’s immune response.