As the days shorten and temperatures drop, people in New York City tend to head indoors for the fall and winter season, which creates the perfect environment for respiratory viruses to make their unwelcome rounds.
COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — these are the primary culprits and, while they can do a number on your respiratory health, they can also impact your cardiovascular health.
To underscore the importance of protecting yourself this flu season, the team here at Upper East Side Cardiology, led by cardiologist Dr. Satjit Bhusri, wants to take a look at how respiratory viruses can cross over and affect your heart health.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack. While there are many roads to this serious health event, we can add respiratory viruses. One study found that people are 6 times more likely to have a heart attack during the week after a flu diagnosis. As well, Other research found that about 1 in 8 people who were hospitalized for flu had an acute cardiac event.
When it comes to COVID-19, people are more at risk for heart attack and stroke due to system-wide inflammation in the body.
Speaking of inflammation, this is one of our main concerns when you contract a respiratory virus. When you’re infected, your body launches an all-out defense that leads to inflammation throughout your body. This inflammation can affect many types of tissues, including those in your blood vessels and heart.
One possible complication of a respiratory virus on your cardiovascular health is myocarditis, or inflammation in your heart muscle. As you might imagine, this inflammation can compromise the function of your heart, which can lead to issues like:
While people with preexisting heart conditions are more at risk for the cardiovascular complications we just outlined, a bad respiratory infection can create these issues in people who were otherwise healthy.
After we weathered the initial COVID-19 pandemic, we breathed a sigh of relief. Then, people started talking about RSV.
RSV isn’t new — most kids get it by the age of 2, and it affects 65 million people in annually. One of the reasons why it’s being highlighted now is that we have a clearer understanding of how it can affect heart health, especially in older populations.
Of the 160,000 adults who are hospitalized with RSV each year, between 14% and 22% develop cardiovascular complications.
We all got a great lesson in how to protect ourselves (and others) against respiratory viruses, and we want to quickly review those best practices here:
We also want you to practice good preventive health on every level — exercise, eat healthy, and ditch bad habits like smoking. These lifestyle steps can prove invaluable in preventing illness from respiratory infections and boosting your heart health.
If you’d like a more targeted prevention plan that will benefit both your respiratory and cardiovascular health, please contact our New York City office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan by clicking here, or you can call us at (212) 752-3464.
