People with long-term COVID-19 are more likely to suffer from this serious illness

Long COVID-19 is scary and unpredictable. While researchers are doing their best to understand the disease and how it behaves, much remains mysterious. A new study found evidence linking long-term COVID-19 to serious health conditions that developed later, including: the presence of blood clots.

The study published in the BMJ. It was a large study looking at the outcomes of over a million people in Sweden who contracted COVID-19 between February 2020 and May 2021. These results were then compared to people of the same sex and age group who had not contracted COVID-19.

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Photo by Mat Napo via Unsplash

The results showed that patients who had COVID-19 were at higher risk for deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and hemorrhage, the three conditions the researchers wanted to find out. Although patients cleared their infections, these risks remained months later.

This isn’t the first study to long link COVID-19 to a variety of health conditions, including cardiovascular and clotting problems. While infections are related to clotting problems, in the case of COVID-19, this situation is exacerbated by the severity of the virus. Researchers speculate that COVID-19’s inflammatory response to the immune system may be responsible.

Although the results of the study are quite worrying, it is important to note that a significant percentage of the data collected was from a time when there was no access to vaccines in Sweden. Vaccines have been shown to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 infection and would likely affect the number of people suffering from this type of circulatory problem.

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Studies on the impact of long-term COVID-19 not only help us understand the disease and be more cautious about contagion, but also provide guidance for healthcare professionals. Knowing that cardiovascular disease is a risk for people who have contracted COVID-19 can help treat others in similar situations and allow for faster treatment, saving more lives in the long run.