BackSmoking, diabetes, obesity outweigh heart disease as factors for Covid death
A study has suggested that age, obesity and diabetes were much stronger predictors of death due to COVID than heart disease
PremiumDefying a common perception associated with cardiovascular disease and COVID-19, a study has suggested that factors responsible for heart ailments like obesity, smoking, and diabetes brings greater risks of COVID death than a preexisting heard disease.
According to the study, a critically ill COVID-19 patient who is a constant smoker and is suffering from obesity and diabetes is more prone to death and poor outcomes than a COVID patient without such conditions.
The study was conducted by a team and was primarily published in the Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes journal. The team of the US University of Michigan closely examined the outcomes for more than 5,100 COVID patients admitted to ICU at 68 US healthcare centres between March and June of 2020.
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The study mentioned that patients suffering from cardiovascular disease were observed to have close to a 30 per cent higher mortality rate than critically ill COVID patients without the preexisting condition. However, the relationship loses its significance when the patients have other risk factors like old age, sex, race, smoking, etc.
The study indicated that age, obesity and diabetes were much stronger predictors of death due to COVID.
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"The fact that the association between cardiovascular disease and death was so heavily diminished when accounting for comorbidities suggests that cardiovascular risk factors rather than preexisting heart disease are the main contributors to in-hospital death in patients with severe COVID-19," said senior author Salim Hayek.
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In the research, out of 5100 COVID patients, 1,174 had either preexisting coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, or atrial fibrillation.
During the examination period, around 34.6 per cent of patients died within a month and nearly 18 per cent of them suffered a cardiovascular event, such as cardiac arrest or myocarditis.
According to the researchers, there was no significant association between such events and death for patients with preexisting heart disease and also for those without the such disease.
Researchers found that the presence of myocardial injury was related to cardiovascular events and death, regardless of whether a patient had preexisting heart disease.
Myocardial was common among ICU patients as half of them had heightened troponin levels. Troponin is a protein that is released when heart muscles are damaged due to any cause.
Patients who have the highest troponin levels are nearly three times more likely to die than those without myocardial injury, the researchers said in a statement.
"While patients with severe COVID commonly had signs of cardiac injury, our findings reinforce COVID-19 as a pulmonary disease with multi-organ injury related to systemic inflammation," Hayek said.
"The evidence of heart damage that we frequently see in patients with severe COVID-19 is more likely a reflection of the severity of the illness and the stress it imparts on all organs, rather than the development of new complications or the exacerbation of preexisting heart disease," he said.
Even though the study reveals a diminished relation between heart disease and COVID deaths, the co-first author of the study, Alexi Vasbinder, suggests that the findings should not minimise the fact that patients with cardiovascular disease are still at risk for death due to COVID-19. Mainly because such patients carry a higher burden of risk factors for the disease, such as diabetes, hypertension, and smoking.
He further said that the team is working on other studies that will help define groups of patients with COVID-19 at the highest risk for severe outcomes, like those who have suffered heart failure or are suffering from coronary artery disease.
Cardiovascular ailments are a common condition for patients who are critically ill due to COVID.
(With inputs from PTI)
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