A total of 54,000 participants were studied by the researchers
COVID mystery deepens as a new research study has found that the risk of death due to cardiovascular blood clots increases by many times in non-hospitalised COVID patients.
The research study was published in the journal Heart on October 24 and is based on the information generated from two COVID waves. A total of 54,000 participants were studied by researchers at the Queen Mary University of London for over 4 and half months for this research.
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These patients were 2.7 times more likely to develop thromboembolisms
The study found that non-hospitalised COVID patients were 2.7 times more likely to develop the dangerous clots called venous thromboembolisms.
Venous thromboembolisms occur when blood clots in the veins. It is a serious problem that can lead to disability and death. There are two types of venous thromboembolisms: deep vein thrombosis where there is a deep clot in the leg and pulmonary embolism where a deep vein thrombosis clot breaks and travels to the lungs where it subsequently blocks a blood supply.
They are more than 10 times more likely to die, says the study
The risk of developing the venous thromboembolisms puts these individuals at a greater risk of dying.
The non-hospitalised COVID patients were 10 times more likely to die than individuals who avoided the disease and the increase in risk was the highest in the first 30 days after the disease began, but could remain elevated even longer, the researchers have told the media.
Stats are worse for hospitalized COVID patients
Yet risks were significantly worse for patients hospitalized for COVID, who had 28 times higher risk of venous thromboembolism, 22 times increased risk of heart failure and 18 times greater risk of stroke than unaffected people. Their chance of dying was 118-fold higher compared with their uninfected counterparts, Bloomberg reported, citing the study report.
Does mild COVID reduce the risk of venous thromboembolisms?
No. The study also highlights that the risk of venous thromboembolisms is higher even with mild cases.
Not just this study, several studies have said that the after effect of COVID is independent of the severity of the infection. People with mild COVID have also been the worst victims of long COVID, which is a condition in which COVID symptoms remain in the human being for weeks and months affecting the quality of life of the individual.
"Likely to affect countries with limited access to vaccination"
The researchers have said that in view of the study findings which highlights the increased cardiovascular risk of individuals with past infection, countries where there is limited access to vaccination are likely to suffer most as a greater population will be more exposed to COVID.
"There is nothing about COVID that is normal"
The "astronomically" increased risk of death among non-hospitalised Covid patients is "another reminder that, although many countries seem to have normalized getting COVID infection, there is nothing about COVID that is normal," said Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System told Bloomberg.
"We urgently need a variant-proof strategy and vaccines that reduce transmission," he added.
Otherwise, these are the risk factors you need to be careful about
Now that we know COVID is a bigger risk factor, there are several other factors too that increase the risk of venous thromboembolism. Older age, obesity, cancer, surgery, immobilization and hospitalization are the triggers.
Apart from these factors, people whose blood is thicker than normal are more likely to develop blood clots because their bone marrow produces too many blood cells.
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