Coronavirus

After COVID, Risks of Heart Problems Remain Elevated for Up to a Year

Among the unvaccinated, long-term heart risks attributed to Covid-19 were "everywhere," researchers found

In this file photo, a nurse measures the blood pressure of a resident of a retirement home in her room.
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It appears the coronavirus can leave patients at risk for heart problems for at least one year following infection, according to one of the largest analyses of post-Covid health effects to date.

The study, published last week in Nature Medicine, found that the illness increased the possibility of heart rhythm irregularities, as well as potentially deadly blood clots in the legs and lungs, in the year after an acute infection.

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The study's lead author, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, said he and his colleagues expected to see some elevation in heart problems following Covid, but assumed it would be limited largely to people whose health wasn’t robust previously.

The elevated risk remained when researchers accounted for age and race, he said.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.

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