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• Posted April 8, 2026

Long COVID Linked to Heart Health Risks

Folks with long COVID face a higher risk for serious heart problems — even younger adults who were never sick enough to be hospitalized, new research suggests.

Long COVID is the collection of ongoing symptoms some patients endure after recovering from an acute COVID infection, such as fatigue and respiratory symptoms. 

It’s estimated to affect 10% to 30% of individuals who have had a COVID infection, researchers said in background notes.

Among them, researchers found an increased risk for cardiovascular events including heart attack, arrhythmias and heart failure.

The study, published recently in the journal eClinicalMedicine, analyzed the health records of more than 1.2 million people in Sweden. 

Researchers specifically looked at individuals who were treated for COVID at home or by their local doctor, rather than in a hospital, to see how their hearts fared the four years that followed.

They identified a troubling trend: People with a long COVID diagnosis were much more likely to suffer from major cardiovascular events. 

Among women, more than 18% experienced heart issues, compared to just 8% of those who never had long COVID. 

For men, nearly 21% had heart complications compared to 11% in the control group.

“We found that cardiac arrhythmias and coronary artery disease were more common among both women and men with long COVID," said lead author Pia Lindberg, a doctoral student at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. 

"In women, there was also an increased risk of heart failure and peripheral vascular disease; however, no clear association was found between long COVID and stroke,” she added in a news release.

While both men and women faced increased dangers, the impact on women was striking. 

Women with long-term COVID were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a heart condition after controlling for age and other health factors. 

In addition to arrhythmias, women also showed a higher likelihood of developing heart failure and blood flow issues in their limbs.

The study didn't show a link between long COVID and stroke in either men or women.

Lindberg noted that because these patients were not hospitalized during their initial infection, their long-term heart health is often overlooked by the medical community. 

This is especially dangerous for women, whose heart symptoms are often more subtle, making them harder to identify without careful monitoring, researchers said.

The team is calling for a more structured approach to how doctors monitor long COVID patients. Because the condition affects people who were previously healthy and active, it may not be immediately obvious that their heart is under strain.

“Our results show that long COVID can be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, even in younger people who were previously healthy,” Lindberg said.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on long COVID.

SOURCES: Karolinska Institute, news release, April 1, 2026; eClinicalMedicine, April 1, 2026