A recent study published in the European Heart Journal, Cardiovascular Imaging, showed that patients recovering from the Omicron variant were least likely to have microvascular involvement.

The study showed that patients infected with beta and delta COVID-19 variants, as well as those who required hospitalization for the infection, are more likely to develop cardiac problems associated with protracted COVID infections.

Microvascular dysfunction is a kind of non-obstructive coronary artery disease in which the little blood vessels that nourish the heart muscle do not function properly. The study included 271 COVID-positive patients, and their cases were matched to 815 controls.

The researchers discovered that microvascular dysfunction became less common nine months to one year after infection, indicating that this sort of aberration may be reversible.

Last year, the same research team headed by Dr. Mouaz Al-Mallah, corresponding author and director of cardiovascular PET at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Centre in the US, published an initial study in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.

The study examined the coronary microvasculature health of 393 patients, including 101 with prior COVID infections who had lingering symptoms. Dr. Al-Mallah stated that this was the first study linking reduced blood flow reserve in the heart and COVID.

At present, the American Society for Nuclear Cardiologys PET scan guidelines proposes that blood flow evaluation be performed regularly.

(Source:https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-analysis-covid-variant-severity-illness.html )