COVID-19 and heart problems: Cardiologist talks prevention, lasting effects for cardiac patients – Austin American-Statesman

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Dr. StanleyWang, a cardiologist at Austin Heart and Heart Hospital of Austin, has been sending his patients the same message for months: If they get COVID-19, they are among the highest-risk patients for severe disease and hospitalization.

Most are listening and have been vaccinated, andhe's continuing to have the conversation about what they can do to lessen their risks:

Wang says he has frank conversations using statistics, such as being unvaccinated makes you eight times as likely to get the delta variant of COVID-19 and 25 times more likely to be hospitalized or die.

Somepatientsworry about the small percentage of people who have had heart inflammation after avaccine (mostly younger men).Wang reminds them that a COVID-19 vaccination has a tiny risk of complications, but people with preexisting heart conditions are two to three times as likely to havecomplications from COVID-19, and those complications could continue for years.

He's also talking to some of them who have advanced heart disease orhave a suppressed immune system about getting a third shot, which was just approved for this group of people. (The rest of us will probably wait until eight months after our second dose if the FDA and CDC approve a third dose for everyone.)

A third dose: Should you get a third COVID-19 shot? Who needs a booster and why it's recommended

There is a correlation with COVID-19 causing elevated blood pressure as well as blood pressure that is difficult to control, Wang said.

"COVID is a disease of inflammation, and that can overlap with high blood pressure, causing the body to go into overdrive and bad things to happen," he said.

People who already have high blood pressure need to have it well-controlled with medication to put themselves in the best position to fight COVID-19 or any other infection.

Right now, because of the strain the delta variant is putting on the hospital systems in Central Texas, even a facility like Heart Hospital of Austin is full as other hospitals have sent cardiac patients there to free up space for patientswith COVID-19.

Hospitals are still able to handle heart attacks or strokes, but for Wang, the COVID-19 surge has meant that some of his patients who needroutine cardiac surgeries or other proceduresare having to wait. Gov. Greg Abbott has asked hospital systems to voluntarily postpone what he calls "elective" surgeriesbut should be thought of as nonemergency procedures. Central Texas' three hospital systems were already doing this before the governor's request because of the limited hospital capacity.

At the hospitals: Austin-area hospitals react to Gov. Greg Abbott's request to postpone surgeries because of delta COVID surge

Wang and other cardiologists have noticed the long-term effects the pandemic is having on their patients. It's not uncommon for patients to come in weighing 15 to 20 pounds more than a year ago, he said.

"The weight is still going to be a problem down the road," he said.

Many are not exercising as much and have become socially isolated, which is affecting mental health.

This pandemic also might increase the need for previously healthy people to see a cardiac specialist.

"We worry about long-term consequences diabetes, heart attacks, strokes all things expected from unhealthy behaviors," Wang said.

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Wang and his colleagues now are seeing people recovering from COVID-19who were previously not cardiac patients. The strain of having COVID-19 has caused them to have heart attacks or strokes, or they have lasting inflammation in their heart, or their heart was weakened by the virus.

They are not necessarily people you would think of as having heart problems, Wang said. One patient is a man in his 20s who Wang said "barely made it," and now his heart is 10% weaker.

"There is early evidence that some of the COVID patients with cardiac complications are more likely to have serious complications down the road," he said. "We don't know what they will look like in five years. It's too early to tell."

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COVID-19 and heart problems: Cardiologist talks prevention, lasting effects for cardiac patients - Austin American-Statesman