People with elevated risks for heart attack or stroke are nearly three times as likely to be hospitalized and require intensive care unit admission if they contract COVID-19, new research from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases suggests.
The study was conducted by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine researchers and used electronic medical records of 949,973 adults in England to determine incidence and risk of COVID-19 infection and severity.
Infection likelihood was similar for people with and without cardiovascular disease risk, but severity of infection increased for those with higher risk. The researchers' findings will be presented at European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon, Portugal, April 23-26.
"It is important that people at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease should be encouraged to take up COVID-19 vaccines and boosters," said Charlotte Warren-Gash, PhD, lead study author. "Because many of the cardiovascular risk factors associated with more severe consequences from COVID-19 are potentially modifiable, clinicians and policy makers should consider that strategies which improve cardiovascular health may also improve outcomes for people following COVID-19."