Blacks, Heart Disease, and the COVID-19 Virus Pandemic

by Kenny Anderson

Recent reports from all over the U.S. shows Blacks are disproportionately dying from the COVID-19 pandemic due to pre-existing chronic diseases.

In a new study published for the Center of Disease Control (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers found that the majority of those hospitalized due to COVID-19 have preexisting conditions about 90% of patients.

One of these underlying conditions is heart disease, recent data from the American Heart Association shows that 48% of Black women 20 and older have heart disease, while 44% of Black men 20 and older have heart disease.

Black women have a 31% death rate from heart disease while Black men have a 34% death rate. A recent study revealed that before age 50 Blacks heart rate failure rate is 20 times higher than that of whites. 

The COVID-19 virus could possibly infect the heart muscle directly. 

According to Scientific America, recent studies cites that patients who had heart disease before their coronavirus infections were much more likely to show heart damage afterward. 

For example in March, doctors from China published two studies that gave the first glimpse at how prevalent cardiac problems were among patients with COVID-19 illness.

The larger of the two studies looked at 416 hospitalized patients. The researchers found that 19% showed signs of heart damage. And those who did were significantly more likely to die: 51% of those with heart damage died versus 4.5% who did not have it.

Patients who had heart disease before their coronavirus infections were much more likely to show heart damage afterward. However some patients with no previous heart disease also showed signs of cardiac damage.

Patients with no preexisting heart conditions who incurred heart damage during their infection were more likely to die than patients with previous heart disease but no COVID-19-induced cardiac damage.

Many cardiac specialists believe a COVID-19 infection leads to damage to the heart in several ways. Some other cardiologists believe the heart damage observed in COVID-19 patients could be from the virus directly infecting the heart muscle.

Initial research suggests the coronavirus attaches to certain receptors in the lungs and those same receptors are found in heart muscle as well; thus the virus affects the heart directly. This could change the way doctors and hospitals need to think about patients, particularly in the early stages of illness.

It also could open up a second front in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, with a need for new precautions in people with preexisting heart problems, new demands for equipment and, ultimately, new treatment plans for damaged hearts among those who survive.