41% of Americans have experienced heart problems since the start of the pandemic, in part due to the effects of COVID-19 but also as a result of increased sedentary lifestyle, according to a study by the Cleveland Clinic.
According to that study, prepared on the occasion of the celebration of heart health month in the United States, 77% of those surveyed admitted that they are now more likely than before the pandemic to be sitting during the day.
In addition, 22% admitted that due to increased responsibilities at home they have less time to exercise regularly.
This tendency towards a sedentary lifestyle has also been seen among Mexican adults, on whom a survey has also been carried out.
Before the pandemic, 83% of Mexicans walked daily, while now only 74% do.
Likewise, before March 2020, 72% of Mexicans often or sometimes exercised and, two years later, the figure has dropped to 60%, according to data from the Cleveland Clinic.
Of the heart problems recognized during the pandemic, in 27% of cases it was due to the effects of COVID-19, according to the study.
In this context, the director of the heart and vascular center of the Cleveland Clinic in Weston (Florida), Jose Navia, explained to Efe that the first strains of COVID-19 created many thromboses, although these cases are not occurring as much now as Neither do myocarditis.
However, the expert considered that patients who have had COVID-19 should have an echocardiogram to check that they do not have heart problems.
Navia also pointed out that in the first year of the pandemic many people with heart problems did not go to the doctor for fear of catching COVID-19 and that this worsened their cases.
One of the heart diseases that, as he pointed out, can be prevented if diagnosed early is endocarditis, the infection of the internal tissues of the heart, which can be treated and cured with antibiotics without the need to go through the operating room.
“Most of the native endocarditis (infection in the patient’s valve) that are taken in time are treated with antibiotics and the majority of patients recover. There is a percentage in which the aggressiveness of the germ is so great that it destroys or breaks the valve and cannot be repaired with antibiotics and surgical treatment is needed”, said the expert.
Navia stressed that endocarditis is a “serious problem” and that it is common to confuse its first symptoms with the flu, since the first manifestations of this disease are: fever, profuse and evening sweating, muscle aches, lack of appetite and fatigue.
“Once the symptoms are detected, what needs to be done quickly is to take cultures of the blood, which are called blood cultures. At least three from different areas are needed and then an echocardiogram must be done, which through ultrasound allows the heart to be seen dynamically, ”explained the doctor.
The people most likely to have endocarditis are those who have a cardiac history -such as surgery or a congenital disease-, but there are also risk factors in people who inject drugs intravenously or those who suffer from kidney failure or are subjected to dialysis.