COVID-19 Related Heart Inflammation Found to be Rare: Study

An inflammatory heart condition called myocarditis caused by the COVID-19 virus might not be as common as previously thought. The study was conducted by Richard Vander Heide of theLSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, and Marc Halushka, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and states that myocarditis may be a relatively rare occurrence.

The findings are published online in Cardiovascular Pathology.

COVID-19 Virus Mutation may Have Made It More Contagious, Says Study
The virus that causes COVID-19 accumulates D614G genetic mutation, which may have made it more contagious, says a study involving more than 5,000 patients in the US.

‘The post-mortem findings of COVID-19 patients reveal that myocarditis is rare as opposed to the previous findings. The complications in COVID-19 patients could be due to other stressors such as endothelial cell activation, cytokine storms, or electrolyte imbalances.’

Tweet it Now

The incidence of COVID-19 related myocarditis range from 60% among the recovered middle-aged and elderly to 14% among the recovered athletes.

"Although it is clear that COVID-19 impacts the heart and blood vessels, to date, it has been difficult to know how reproducible any changes are due to the relatively small sample size of most autopsy series," says Dr. Vander Heide.

The researchers analyzed the heart-related pathological findings from 277 autopsy cases of patients who died due to COVID-19 across nine countries worldwide. A careful review revealed that the rate of myocarditis found in these patients is between 1.4% and 7.2%. The authors thus concluded that myocarditis is not as common as previously thought.

Dementia Worsens COVID-19
Cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are predominantly found to increase the risk for acquiring severe COVID-19, said new study.

Dr. Vander Heide says, "Even a low myocarditis rate of 1.4% would predict hundreds of thousands of worldwide cases of myocarditis in severe COVID-19 due to the enormous numbers of infected individuals. Low rates of myocarditis do not indicate that individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 are not having cardiovascular problems, but rather those complications are likely due to other stressors such as endothelial cell activation, cytokine storms, or electrolyte imbalances."

The findings will help researchers to reconsider the interpretation of blood tests and heart pathology studies at autopsy. Complications of COVID-19 could be due to other stressors such as endothelial cell activation, cytokine storms, or electrolyte imbalances.

COVID-19 in Kerala: 7,983 New Coronavirus Cases, Tally Tops 91K
In Kerala, a total of 7,983 people have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of Covid-19 positive cases in the southern state beyond 91,000, officials said.

In order to assist pathologists during the autopsy of COVID-19 patients, the researchers created a 'checklist' to offer consistency in investigating and reporting findings.

The study highlights the importance of autopsy to help in determining the pathology of the hearts of people who succumb of COVID-19 infection.

COVID-19 Vaccine Covaxine Trials to Begin
One thousand volunteers have been invited to participate in the clinical trials for Covaxine that will begin from November 14 and continue till the end of January.

Source-Medindia