Covid-19 continues to be a powerful risk factor for future heart attacks and strokes for almost three years following the infection, a large new study suggests.

People infected with COVID-19 appear to face a higher risk of heart attack and stroke for up to three years, a new study finds.

The findings suggest that being hospitalized for COVID-19 in 2020 was a "coronary artery disease risk equivalent," conferring a higher risk for future heart attacks, strokes or death in people without a history of cardiovascular disease than the risk for people with a history who didn't have COVID.

People hospitalized for COVID had about the same risk of a major cardiac event as people with heart disease who never had COVID, researchers found. Results also showed that any type of COVID infection -- mild to severe -- doubles the risk of a major cardiac event for up to three years following illness.

Being hospitalized for COVID amplified the risk of heart attacks and other cardiac events so much that it ended up being comparable to people who had a history of heart disease but who hadn't gotten COVID.

By Stephen Beech via SWNS COVID-19 doubles the risk of a heart attack, stroke or dying up to three years later, according to a new study. The danger is even

COVID-19 could be a powerful risk factor for heart attacks and strokes for as long as three years after an infection, a large new study suggests.