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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to infect millions of people around the world, researchers are learning more about how the virus affects various organs in the body. Although initially considered a respiratory disease, it is now clear that it attacks more than just the lungs. Doctors are particularly concerned about how it could affect the heart. Dr. Jennifer Haythe, a critical care cardiologist at Columbia University Center and a member of the HUMAN HEALTH GROUP, shares what experts know about how COVID-19 affects the cardiovascular system.
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Dale May Dr. Jennifer Haden Haythe
How does COVID-19 affect the heart?
One way COVID affects the heart is that it can cause myocarditis, or an inflammation of the heart muscle, which can cause various types of symptoms, including chest pain, abnormal heart rhythms and even decreased heart function.
Another way COVID touches the heart is by causing significant arrhythmias. People come in with heart rhythms that cause their blood pressure to drop, or that make heart palpitations feel, or even that they need CPR.
The third is heart failure syndrome. COVID can affect the heart cells themselves and cause the heart to function, causing people to have symptoms such as shortness of breath, fluid in the lungs and swelling of the feet.
What is the biggest concern for people with known heart problems when they are diagnosed with COVID??
People with underlying heart disease or impaired blood vessels – which means they have diabetes or high blood pressure or obesity – are at risk. They should be on the lookout for chest pain, shortness of breath, feeling light-headed, feeling as if they are almost fainting or actually fainting. These are things needed to go to the emergency room, or to call your doctor.
COVID originated as a virus that really affects the blood vessels in the body – and of course the heart is the largest blood vessel of all. We know that it affects the blood vessels in the brain and causes strokes and causes blood clots in the blood vessels of the lungs. It causes rash in people’s hands due to the clotting of the small blood vessels in the skin. It causes kidney failure by the same mechanism that affects the bleeding of the kidneys. And the heart is the same.
What is the biggest misconception people have about COVID and heart health?
People think that if they have any kind of heart disease, they are going to die of COVID. And I want to reassure people that this is not the case. So if you have had heart surgery or had a valve replacement, it does not necessarily mean that you are going to die from COVID. What this does mean is that you may have some risk factors that could lead to worse COVID. We think this is probably because COVID causes this abnormal inflammation in the blood vessels. Therefore, you should take a COVID infection more seriously, but do not panic.
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Gregg Garfield suffered from collapsed lungs, sepsis and was placed in a ventilator while fighting the coronavirus.
How was your COVID experience in the front lines?
I work at the ICU in Columbia – which is part of the New York Presbyterian Hospital – and basically all of our hospitals were overwhelmingly COVID patients. In the intensive care unit, our rooms doubled. Normally, an ICU room is one patient in a room, so we had to put two patients in a room, and all the operating rooms were filled with COVID patients. It was certainly very overwhelming and for everyone very disturbing and frightening, and many patients died. It came very suddenly at the same time. Now the COVID experience is different. We know a little better how to treat it. People have better PBT, and some people are vaccinated.
Getty Healthcare worker wearing a very protective suit, making it heart-shaped and motivating.
How is it different to treat COVID patients now compared to when it first hit the United States last year?
The hospital feels like it is still functioning as a hospital, while it was previously closed and only cares for COVID. Now we still see our heart patients, and we still do selection methods, and we still do surgery. And the fear factor is a bit gone.
But I think people’s feelings are tired. There are still many young people of middle age who have breathing tubes dying in the intensive care unit. And it’s stressful for everyone and takes its toll.
What more should readers know about heart health for American Heart Month?
For women, heart disease is the leading cause of death in this country. But 85% of heart diseases can probably be prevented with good early treatment. If you are between 18 and 40, if you eat a healthy diet, stay away from toxins, exercise and stay fit, you can reduce heart disease in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Even if you are now 40 to 60, you can still do many things to stop your risk and reduce your chances of heart disease, such as visiting your doctor every year and examining for risk factors.