Research: LKCMedicine-led national study finds unvaccinated Covid-19 survivors face higher risk of heart complications

By Sanjay Devaraja, Editor, The LKCMedicine

A national study led by LKCMedicine found that unvaccinated people who have recovered from COVID-19 are at heightened risk of heart complications almost a year later.

Published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases academic journal, the study is the first and largest to examine the risk of long COVID in a highly vaccinated, multi-ethnic Southeast Asian population.

The study, based on testing and medical claims records of 106,012 people resident in Singapore and diagnosed with COVID-19 between 1 September and 31 November 2021, was during the period of the Delta variant predominance. The study found that many (912 patients) who have recovered from COVID-19 have reported lingering after-effects, consistent with the ‘long Covid’ syndrome. These may include symptoms of fatigue, shortness of breath, problems with memory, and heart complications like cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and thrombosis. 

This COVID-19 positive group was compared with a group of nearly 1.7 million in the community who were not known to be infected with the virus during that time. Both groups were tracked over an average period of 300 days, looking at whether they developed ‘long Covid’ syndrome and, specifically, heart complications.

“We were motivated to conduct our study after hearing of increasing reports of long COVID syndrome. Even though we are now in the post-pandemic period, our findings remain relevant as COVID is here to stay with evolving variants, and the world will continue to need to understand its effects and safeguard ourselves," said LKCMedicine Assistant Professor Lim Jue Tao of Infectious Disease Modelling and lead author of the study.

"Our study underscores the need for people to get vaccinated and boosted as a vital means of protection.”

The study was carried out by researchers from NTU LKCMedicine, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore General Hospital, and National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore. It is supported by the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response (PREPARE), a national initiative by the Ministry of Health aimed at bolstering Singapore’s resilience against infectious disease threats.

Researchers will next focus on neuropsychiatric and respiratory complications, and the effect of long COVID on healthcare utilisation.