COVID-19 Surges Linked To Spike in Heart Attack Deaths – “Like Nothing Seen Before”

Human Heart Attack

The research team members say they have long known that infections such as the flu can increase the risk for heart disease and heart attack, but the sharp rise in heart attack deaths is like nothing seen before.

New study shows heart attack increase has been most prominent in young adults, especially those ages 25-44.

Researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai conducted a new data analysis and found that deaths from heart attacks rose significantly during pandemic surges, including the COVID-19 Omicron surges, overall reversing a heart-healthier pre-pandemic trend.

“There is something very different about how this virus affects the cardiac risks.” — Susan Cheng, MD, MPH

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, heart attacks were the leading cause of death worldwide but were steadily on the decline. However, the new study reveals that heart attack death rates took a sharp turn and increased for all age groups during the pandemic. The study was recently published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Virology.

Spikes in heart attack deaths have closely tracked with surges of SARS-CoV-2 infections. This was true even during the presumed less-severe Omicron phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the data showed the increase was most significant among people ages 25-44. Individuals in this age range are not usually considered at high risk for heart attacks.

“The dramatic rise in heart attacks during the pandemic has reversed what was a prior decadelong steady improvement in cardiac deaths,” said Yee Hui Yeo, MD, first author of the study and a Cedars-Sinai physician-scientist. “We are still learning the many ways by which COVID-19 affects the body, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or race.”

Chest Pain Heart Attack

New data analysis reveals that deaths from heart attacks rose significantly during pandemic surges, including the COVID-19 Omicron surges.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System, the Cedars-Sinai researchers identified 1,522,699 deaths from heart attacks—medically called acute myocardial infarctions—between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2022.

Investigators then compared age-related mortality rates between pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, as well as demographic groups and regions.

Key findings from the study include:

  • In the year before the pandemic, there were 143,787 heart attack deaths; within the first year of the pandemic, this number had increased by 14% to 164,096.
  • The excess in acute myocardial infarction-associated mortality has persisted throughout the pandemic, even during the most recent period marked by a surge of the presumed less-virulent Omicron variant.
  • Researchers found that although acute myocardial infarction deaths during the pandemic increased across all age groups, the relative rise was most significant for the youngest group, ages 25 to 44.
  • By the second year of the pandemic, the “observed” compared to “predicted” rates of heart attack death had increased by 29.9% for adults ages 25-44, by 19.6% for adults ages 45-64, and by 13.7% for adults age 65 and older.

“There are several potential explanations for the rapid rise in cardiac deaths in patients with COVID-19, yet still many unanswered questions,” said Yeo. “Importantly, our results highlight disparities in mortality that have emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and that are persisting even through the Omicron era.”

The possible explanations, Yeo said, include that COVID-19 may trigger or accelerate the presentation of preexisting coronary artery disease, even in younger adults.

Reasons for the spike in heart-related conditions could also be related to psychological and social challenges associated with the pandemic, including job loss and other financial pressures that can cause acute or chronic stress leading to cardiac disease.

The research team members say they have long known that infections such as the flu can increase the risk for heart disease and heart attack, but the sharp rise in heart attack deaths is like nothing seen before.

“There is something very different about how this virus affects the cardiac risks,” said Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, director of the Institute for Research on Healthy Aging in the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute and senior and co-corresponding author of the study. “The difference is likely due to a combination of stress and inflammation, arising from predisposing factors and the way this virus biologically interacts with the cardiovascular system.”

Yeo, Cheng, and the broader Smidt Heart Institute team hope that greater awareness and more research will expand the medical community’s ability to manage and mitigate these risks.

Reference: “Excess risk for acute myocardial infarction mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic” by Yee Hui Yeo, Maggie Wang, Xinyuan He, Fan Lv, Yue Zhang, Jian Zu, Mei Li, Yang Jiao, Joseph E. Ebinger, Jignesh K. Patel, Susan Cheng and Fanpu Ji, 29 September 2022, Journal of Medical Virology.
DOI: 10.1002/jmv.28187

18 Comments on "COVID-19 Surges Linked To Spike in Heart Attack Deaths – “Like Nothing Seen Before”"

  1. Amazing that nowhere in the article do they mention the potential role of the Covid vaccine. I would like to see the data for the period after January 2020 and then again after January 2021 when the vaccine was introduced. They note that “the relative rise was most significant for the youngest group, ages 25 to 44.” The spike in myocarditis cases related to the vaccine fall into this group.

  2. It’s not COVID per se, it’s the immunizations!

    • The deaths occur in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated with the vaccinated having a lower risk (as a study of over 5mil people found). It’s the virus.

  3. How many of these “excess death” fatalities were among those who had been vaccinated

  4. “Vaccine-associated enhanced disease (VAED) has been reported, or at least suspected, in animal models, and in a few instances in humans, for vaccine candidates against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), measles virus (MV), dengue virus (DENV), HIV-1, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1), and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).”

    — From the journal “Frontiers in Microbiology,” J. Bigay et al, 10Aug2022.

    The study’s authors conclude however that VAED has not been demonstrated or observed with respect to the Covid-19 vaccines.

  5. Exactly ALL DUE TO THE VAXX and no mention…funny look at the authors….

  6. No mention whether these people were vaxxed…hmmmm.

  7. For all the people thinking it’s the vaccine. It’s not it’s COVID-19. I’m not vaccinated and have recently been dx with heart failure and hospitalized with COVID. Maybe it’s the people not vaccinated getting being affected. I don’t know.

  8. Each of 3 shots i had i was in bed 4 days. I dont believe they are good for your heart. Wont do another

  9. The heart conditions are caused by the vaccines not covid 19 wake up people

  10. I understand that C19 can give you a heart condition, but really, can’t anyone see why C19 gives you these heart conditions?!?! REALLY? C19 has spike proteins. And what does the vaccines make your body churn out “to protect you”??? Spike proteins. BOTH will give you a heart problems. Being vaxxed will only make things worse. Everybody acts as if it never was noticed/proved/studied…

    https://scitechdaily.com/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-associated-with-increased-risk-of-carditis-heart-inflammation/

    https://www.conservativereview.com/horowitz-the-more-you-vax-2657360070.html

    https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069590

    https://scitechdaily.com/sars-cov-2-spike-protein-alone-may-cause-covid-19-lung-damage-even-without-the-presence-of-intact-virus/

    https://highintensityhealth.com/the-spike-protein-isnt-benign-new-study-finds/

    And these are the most condemning, to me:

    https://scitechdaily.com/sars-cov-2-spike-protein-alone-may-cause-covid-19-lung-damage-even-without-the-presence-of-intact-virus/

    https://scitechdaily.com/covid-spike-protein-binds-to-hearts-vascular-cells-may-contribute-to-severe-microvascular-damage/

    You only need the spike protein to kill people. Not the virus. For the love of God, think!

  11. It’s odd how the dramatic increase in heart problems, especially among younger people (who have more vascular shoulders than old people, increasing the chance of the injections going into the bloodstream rather than the muscle) correspond with the introduction of the shots, and not the start of covid.

  12. Two different “people” (Naomi Ioera and Sudheer) with identicle comments proclaiming it’s not the vaccine……..enough said!

  13. S1 is in Covid but even more in the Vax !
    Dose up on D3/K2 and pick up some Iodine Saline nose spray ! Covid hospitalizations are all found to be deficient in D3.
    Arm yourselves, things will get more gnarly.

  14. I am a 57 year old male in good condition. 155 cholesterol, 55 triglycerides, no HBP. I was out running the morning I came back and had a heart attack. I have not been vaccinated. They discovered an 85% blockage in my LAD, The Widowmaker. I’m thankful to be alive. Eight weeks before my heart attack, I had a very very light case of coronavirus. I am convinced that the release of clot material that caused the blockage in my heart was from coronavirus. Again, I am not vaccinated. I am a 57 year old male in good condition. 155 cholesterol, 55 triglycerides, 2.9 HDL ratio, no HBP. I was out running the morning I came back and had a heart attack. I have not been vaccinated. They discovered an 85% blockage in my LAD, The Widowmaker. I’m thankful to be alive. Eight weeks before my heart attack, I had a very very light case of coronavirus. I am convinced that the release of clot material that caused the blockage in my heart was from coronavirus. Again, I am not vaccinated.

  15. Well my fellow commenter’s I haven’t had Covid but I darn sure had a heart attack exactly 7days after my booster shot & that’s only the half of it! I’ve had severe neurological issues, lost my ability 2 walk 4 several weeks, sores in my ears & mouth that r hard 2 heal & come back 2 haunt me @ random & I’ve lost my hair twice! No I wasn’t the healthiest prior 2 I have a autoimmune disease, Crohn’s Disease & Pfizer knew from their clinical trials that people like me weren’t candidates 4 the vaccine & did NOT disclose it not only that but u are NOT a candidate if you’ve recently been on antibiotics 4 any kind of infection which I was 4 a bacterial infection whn I got delivered up 4 those shots by my own Dr! Hey doc your fired but the US govmt needs u 2 keep ramming those shots dwn a bunch of unsuspecting peoples throats

  16. I had Covid when we had no vaccine. It was a nightmare for me and has left me with random sores in my mouth. My mouth at least twice a month and I can barely eat. Everything has to be soft and neutral. My brain fog is better but not gone. I tire easily now and with little effort I’m exhausted and have to lie down. For me the vaccines didn’t bother my body but I won’t take it a 4th time. My brother got vaxxed for me. He doesn’t trust doctors. After the second shot a bit later he was disoriented a week. Fast heart beat and palpyafter eating about an hour after eating. He has balance issues and it’s very scary for him. He went to the VA hospital but they didn’t care to hear about his heart. They dismissed it. Gave him blood pressure pills while it wasn’t high at all. He took it but an hour or so after he thought he was going to die. His head felt like it was going to explode. He is stuck because the doctors don’t want to hear it. He’s 58 now it all happened almost a year and half. I decided I don’t want any more of the stuff. I did what I thought was right for me but my brothers life is in the balance. He’s trying anti inflammatory hibiscus. And just started glutathione 500 mg someone on a TikTok chimed in on a nurse who was making fun of people who say they have problems. She said her mother started that and feels much better. Sad that it looks like thinking the population but I’m not a conspiracy person, at least not on this subject. I do see a correlation with flu shots and strokes. My father would get it regular. One day I took him he got it then that night we rushed him to hospital he had a stroke. The next year it happened again the same night. His cardiologist was there and I told him this is weird twice on the same night. He looked at me and said yeah, no more flu that’s for you.

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