Three-Fold Increased Risk Of Heart Attack, Stroke In First Two Weeks Following Covid: Lancet Study

<p><strong>London: </strong>There is three-fold increased risk of acute myocardial infarction or heart attack and stroke in the first two weeks following Covid-19, according to a study published in The Lancet journal.</p> <p>The study compared the occurrence of acute myocardial infarction and stroke in 86,742 Covid-19 patients with 348,481 control individuals in Sweden from February 1 to September 14, 2020.</p> <p><strong>READ</strong>: <strong><a href="https://ift.tt/3fwMZeR Consuming Us Mentally, Here&rsquo;s How Psychologists Suggest To Tackle Crisis</a></strong></p> <p>"We found a three-fold increased risk of acute myocardial infarction and stroke in the first two weeks following Covid-19,&rdquo; PTI quoted Osvaldo Fonseca Rodriguez from Umea University in Sweden, and co-first author of the study, as saying.</p> <p>The risk was same even after the researchers adjusted for known risk factors for acute myocardial infarction and stroke such as comorbidities, age, gender and socio-economic factors.</p> <p>Umea University&rsquo;s Ioannis Katsoularis, a co-author of the study, said &ldquo;the results indicate that acute cardiovascular complications represent an important clinical manifestation of Covid-19&rdquo;, adding &ldquo;our results also show how important it is to vaccinate against Covid-19, in particular the elderly who are at increased risk of acute cardiovascular events&rdquo;.</p> <p>Two statistical methods - the matched cohort study and the self-controlled case series &ndash; were used by the researchers in the study.</p> <p>The researchers said the self-controlled case series study is a method that was originally invented to determine the risk of complications following vaccines.</p> <p>The study&rsquo;s authors said both methods suggest that Covid-19 is a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke.</p> <p>&ldquo;This indicates that acute myocardial infarction and ischaemic stroke represent a part of the clinical picture of Covid-19, and highlights the need for vaccination against Covid-19,&rdquo; the authors added.</p> <p>The information from national registries from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, Statistics Sweden and the National Board of Health and Welfare were cross-linked, in the study, for all reported Covid-19 patients.</p> <p>A control group consisting of four individuals matched to every Covid-19 case on age, gender and county of residence that had not tested positive for Covid.</p> <p>The individuals with a previous myocardial infarction and stroke were identified and excluded from the study by using historical registry data from the National Board of Health and Welfare's inpatient registry.</p> <p><strong>ALSO READ</strong>: <strong><a href="https://ift.tt/3jhWmAc Pandemic: Include These 5 Things In Your Diet If Covid As Affecting Mental Health</a></strong></p> <p>Stating that it would have been difficult to calculate the risk that Covid-19 contributes to acute myocardial infarction and stroke if individuals with a prior event were included, Krister Lindmark, a co-author of the study, said: &ldquo;This is because the risk of a recurrent acute myocardial infarction and stroke is increased following a first acute myocardial infarction or stroke.&rdquo;</p>