Warning 1 in 8 people in hospital with covid-19 suffer heart inflammation
Scientists at the University of Glasgow looked at patients in hospital who were largely unvaccinated during the first year of the pandemic.
Scientists are warning people admitted to hospital with coronavirus during the first year of the pandemic were more likely to suffer from heart inflammation.
A study by the University of Glasgow found 1 in 8 people hospitalised with the infection between May 2020 and March 2021 developed the problem.
Most patients in the research were unvaccinated because the vaccine only started being administered in December 2020.
Professor Colin Berry, principle investigator of the CISCO-19 study and professor of Cardiology and Imaging at the University of Glasgow, said: “One of the most important findings of the CISCO study is that it is the severity of a patient’s COVID-19 infection.
"It is not their underlying health conditions that is most closely correlated with the severity of any ongoing health outcomes post discharge.
"We found that previously healthy patients, without any underlying health conditions, were suffering with severe health outcomes, including myocarditis, post hospitalisation.
"The reasons for this are unclear, but it may be that a healthy person who is hospitalised with COVID-19 is likely to have a worse COVID infection than someone with underlying health conditions who is hospitalised.
"More work needs to be done here to understand the risks, and also on how we can better support patients who have ongoing health outcomes after being hospitalised with COVID-19.”
Long COVID has been found to predominately affect females.
CISCO found that female sex was associated with myocarditis, which in turn was linked with lower mental and physical wellbeing.
Researchers believe these findings provide some answers that could explain the physical limitations experienced by some female patients post COVID-19 hospitalisation.
Professor David Crossman, Chief Scientist (Health) for Scotland at the time the study was funded, said: “This study provides important insight into the longer-term effects of COVID-19 infection, and will help inform approaches to treatment going forward.
"The Chief Scientist Office is pleased to have funded this research as part of the £5 million Rapid Research in COVID-19 programme.”