Coronavirus and Your Heart

For people with underlying heart issues, their concern about how the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 affects them is real and unknown.

These concerns are serious enough that the American College of Cardiology (ACC) issued a bulletin on February 12, 2020, warning patients about the potential increased risk and to encourage "additional, reasonable precautions."

Based on early reports, about 40 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had cardiovascular disease or cerebrovascular disease (blood flow in the brain, such as stroke), according to this bulletin, said the ACC in a press statement.

"That statistic doesn't mean people with heart disease are more likely to contract the coronavirus," said Dr. Orly Vardeny, associate professor of medicine at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and the University of Minnesota.

"It just means that those folks are more likely to have complications once they do get it."

Vardeny, an adviser on the ACC bulletin, said the virus could affect heart disease patients in several ways.

The coronavirus's main target is a person’s lungs.

But that could affect the heart, especially a diseased heart, which has to work harder to get oxygenated blood throughout the body, Dr. Yardeny said.

"In general, you can think of it as something that is taxing the system as a whole."

That could exacerbate problems for someone with heart failure, where the heart is already having problems pumping efficiently.

Someone with an underlying heart issue also might have a less robust immune system.

People's immune systems weaken as they age, Dr. Vardeny said.

And "in those with chronic medical conditions, the body's immune response is not as strong a response when exposed to viruses."

If such a person catches a virus, she said it's likely to stick around and cause complications.

A virus also may pose a special risk for people who have the fatty buildup known as plaque in their arteries, Dr. Vardeny said.

Evidence indicates similar viral illnesses can destabilize these plaques, potentially resulting in the blockage of an artery feeding blood to the heart, putting patients at risk of a heart attack.

Dr. Vardeny emphasized that the world-wide outbreak is changing almost hourly.

But previous coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS, offer insight.

They were linked to problems such as inflammation of the heart muscle, heart attack, and rapid-onset heart failure, the ACC bulletin said.

The ACC bulletin recommends people with cardiovascular disease stay up to date with vaccinations, including for pneumonia.

The ACC also supports getting a flu shot to prevent another source of fever, which could potentially be confused with the coronavirus infection.

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American Heart Association News covers heart disease, stroke, and related health issues. Not all views expressed in American Heart Association News stories reflect the official position of the American Heart Association.

COVID-19 disease outbreak news published by Coronavirus Today.