Researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cida Senai Medical Center in Los Angeles conducted a new data analysis, and found that deaths from heart attacks increased significantly during the COVID-19 surge (including during the COVID-19 Omicron surge), , which overall reversed the pre-pandemic trend of healthier hearts.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, heart attacks were the leading cause of death worldwide, but were steadily declining. However, new research shows that during the pandemic, the mortality rate of heart attacks has changed and heart attack rates are increasing in all age groups. The study was recently published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Virology.
The peak of heart attack death is closely related to the surge in SARS-CoV-2 infection. This is even during the Omicron stage where the COVID-19 pandemic is not too severe. In addition, data show that the growth is most obvious among people aged 25-44. People of this age are not usually considered at high risk for heart attacks.
, the first author of the study, said Dr. Yee Hui Yeo, a scientist at Cida Senai Medical Center and first author of the study. "The sharp rise in heart attacks during the pandemic has reversed the steady improvement of heart death in the previous decade. We are still learning the many ways COVID-19 affects the body, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or race."
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics System, researchers at Cida Senai Medical Center identified 1522,699 deaths from heart attacks between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2022 - 1522,699 people died from heart attacks - medically known as acute myocardial infarction .
researchers then compared age-related mortality rates, as well as population groups and regions, before and during the pandemic.
The main findings of this study include:
- There were 143,787 deaths from heart attacks in the year before the pandemic; this number increased by 14% to 164,096 in the first year of the pandemic.
- The high incidence of acute myocardial infarction-related mortality has been around throughout the pandemic, even in a recent period marked by a surge in putatively lower viral Omicron variants.
- researchers found that despite the increase in deaths from acute myocardial infarction in all age groups during the pandemic, the relative rise in the youngest groups (25 to 44 years old) was the most obvious.
- By the second year of the pandemic, the "observed" heart attack mortality rate increased by 29.9% among adults aged 25-44, 19.6% among adults aged 45-64 and 13.7% among adults aged 65 and older. "There are several potential explanations for the rapid increase in heart death in patients with COVID-19, but there are still many unanswered questions. Importantly, our results highlight the mortality differences that occur during the COVID-19 pandemic, which persist even during peak Omicron," said
Yeo. Possible explanations include that COVID-19 may trigger or accelerate the presentation of preexisting coronary disease, even in young adults.
The causes of a surge in heart-related conditions may also be related to the psychological and social challenges brought about by the pandemic, including unemployment and other economic stresses that can lead to acute or chronic stress that can lead to heart disease.
Research team members said they had long known that infections like flu increase the risk of heart disease and heart attacks, but the sharp increase in heart attack deaths is never seen before. "There are some very different effects of this virus on cardiac risk," said
Smidt Cardiology Institute Director of the Institute of Health Aging, senior and co- corresponding author Susan Cheng, senior and co- correspondent author of the study. "This difference may be due to the combination of stress and inflammation, caused by susceptibility factors and the way this virus interacts with the cardiovascular system."
Yeo, Cheng and the broader team of Smidt Cardiology Institute hope that more awareness and more research will expand the medical community's ability to manage and mitigate these risks.
