Extensive cardiological examinations were carried out on 346 people almost four months after a Covid infection. Of them, 73 percent suffered from heart problems since the infection. MRI scans with contrast media showed evidence of inflammatory heart disease in these people. They also had a higher heart rate than those without symptoms.
About a year after infection, 57 percent still had heart problems. Even though the inflammation had gone down, it was still more severe than in those whose symptoms had improved.
“Persistent inflammatory heart involvement can at least partially explain the lasting cardiac symptoms of previously healthy people with an originally mild Covid 19 disease,” concludes the Frankfurt research team from the observations that they have published in the journal “Nature Medicine”.
It is not yet known what the long-term consequences of chronic inflammation are for the heart. Changes in the structure of the heart or biomarkers that indicate heart injuries or functional disorders were observed only in isolated cases. The findings differed from those that usually occur in viral myocarditis.
Which: DOI 10.1038/s41591-022-02000-0