Any infection, including the one caused by COVID-19, puts a strain on the heart. Therefore, “if a patient has a previous illness, such as heart failure, the heart will worsen its functioning,” explained Dr. Juan Cosín, president of the SEC’s Association of Clinical Cardiology. In addition to overloading the heart, it is also known that COVID-19 infection can cause direct infectious and inflammatory damage to the heart muscle. The risk of contracting the disease in cardiovascular patients depends on being exposed to an infected subject. At present, it is not known whether having heart disease would facilitate infection, although it seems unlikely.
In all the countries involved in the YOUNG50 project, Ministries of Health have built specific COVID-19 dedicated section on their official websites, in order to let updated data be constantly available to general public and to provide detailed recommendations to assist people and, in particular frailty subjects. However, primary prevention initiatives don’t seem to be available yet. Therefore, National and local associations operating in the field of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular prevention, have pursued secondary prevention activities focusing on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, physical activity as well as health diet.
With these premises, the official links of the Ministries of Health, as well as of the main associations and institutions operating in the field of cardiovascular diseases of the five YOUNG50 countries, are reported below:
Italia:
Italian Ministry of Health:
Italian Society of Cardiovascular Prevention – SIPREC:
Italian Society of Arterial Hypertension:
Lithuania:
Lithuanian Ministry of Health:
Lithuanian COVID-19 dedicated website:
Spain:
