Long Covid and the Heart

A recent Wall Street Journal article, August 27, 2024, was entitled “One Million Workers Knocked Off Their Career Paths by Long COVID.”

In researching a recent Long COVID heart case, I came across the following:

“As per a comprehensive literature review on the aftermaths of long COVID syndrome, clinical outcomes, and plausible molecular mechanisms, it has been found that 1-4 of patients who are hospitalized due to COVID-19 suffered from myocardial injury which increased their likelihood of mortality. Furthermore, post-mortem histological examinations of COVID-19 patients revealed myocardial hypertrophy in a staggering 92.9% of cases, mild to severe coronary artery atherosclerosis in all cases examined (100%) and localized myocardial fibrosis in 21.4% of cases.

(Ref: Long-Covid and Post-Covid Health Complications: An Up-2-Date Review on Clinical Conditions and the Possible Molecular Mechanisms. Viruses.2021; 13:700. Ref: Myocarditis and Myocardial Injury in Long-Covid Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. Cureus.2023 Jul; 15(7): e42444.

The Wall Street Journal article notes that “more than 5% of adults in the U.S. have Long COVID and it is most prevalent among people in their prime working years.