Publications
Search our database of publications on vaccines for COVID-19. These include published scientific papers, preprints and policy reports, and all are from teams based in the UK.
Risk of cardiovascular events following COVID-19 in people with and without pre-existing chronic respiratory disease
This research has not been peer-reviewed. It is a preliminary report that should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice or health-related behaviour, or be reported in news media as established information.
Background
COVID-19 is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular outcomes in the general population. People with chronic respiratory disease have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease than the general population therefore, we investigated the association between pre-existing chronic respiratory disease and risk of cardiovascular events following COVID-19 using routinely collected data from 56 million people in England.
Methods
Primary and secondary care data from the English National Health Service and COVID-19-specific linked data were used to define a population of adults with COVID-19 between 01/01/2020-30/11/2021. Start of follow-up was from first COVID-19 diagnosis. Pre-existing chronic respiratory disease included asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, or pulmonary fibrosis prior to COVID-19 diagnosis. Adjusted Cox Proportional Hazard regression was used to investigate the association between pre-existing chronic respiratory disease and risk of cardiovascular events. Secondary objectives investigated the impact of COVID-19 hospitalisation and vaccine dose on risk of cardiovascular outcomes.
Findings
A total of 3,670,455 people were included. People with pre-existing respiratory disease had a higher risk of cardiovascular events (adjusted HR 1.11, 95% confidence intervals 1.07-1.14), heart failure (1.15, 1.09-1.21), and pulmonary embolism (1.20, 1.11-1.30) compared with those without pre-existing respiratory disease. Regardless of pre-existing respiratory disease, the risk of cardiovascular events was lower with increasing COVID-19 vaccine dose.
Interpretation
People with chronic respiratory disease have a higher risk of some cardiovascular outcomes but the risk might be explained by the underlying respiratory condition. Risk of cardiovascular events was lower with increasing COVID-19 vaccine doses regardless of pre-existing chronic respiratory disease. Funding This work was funded by the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre.
