How Is COVID-19 Affecting Mitral Stenosis Patients?

The virus first appeared in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and from there it has spread all over the world. During COVID-19, everyone faces numerous challenges, but people who have previously been diagnosed with a disease such as diabetes, heart disease, or another had a particularly difficult time.

In this article, we are going to discuss how COVID-19 affected mitral stenosis patients.

Before that, let’s understand what mitral stenosis is.

What Is Mitral Stenosis?

Mitral stenosis is a heart condition when there is an obstruction to left ventricular inflow at the level of the mitral valve due to a structural abnormality of the mitral valve apparatus. The most common reason for mitral stenosis is rheumatic fever. It is an inflammatory disease and a complication of the untreated throat during childhood. The second reason is less severe and rare, and it develops with age due to accumulated calcium deposits on the valves.

Symptoms of mitral stenosis progress slowly with age, and due to that, you may not have noticed the symptoms for many years. Symptoms are shortness of breath, fatigue, swollen ankles and feet, heart palpitation, fainting or dizziness, coughing up blood, and chest pain.

Symptoms of mitral stenosis appear or worsen with exercise and stress, and women may notice them at any time during pregnancy.

How Is Covid-19 Affecting Mitral Stenosis Patients?

Lockdown

Due to lockdown, it was very hard for the mitral stenosis patient to get their regular treatment at hospitals.

because their condition was getting worse. There used to be a long waiting list at the hospitals, fewer ambulances, and fewer beds, which meant the condition of heart patients worsened.

The risk of getting infected with the virus is also a prominent factor because patients were not going for treatment.

If you see the statistics, the heart-related death rate was very high at that time.

Coronavirus Also Affects The Heart

We know that coronavirus primarily affects the lungs, but it also affects the heart as well as other major organs in a severe way.

People with cardiovascular diseases were at a high risk of getting infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

For example, people with heart disease can get infected with the flu virus, which can lead to a heart attack.

Coronavirus damages the respiratory system and forces the heart to work faster and harder to supply oxygen to different organs. It also causes blood clots in the heart’s arteries and weakens the heart muscle.

Everybody can get infected with COVID-19 and most of them have very mild symptoms, but if an adult of 65 or above with a pre-existing disease comes into contact with the virus, he/she may need to be hospitalised.

Conclusion

Mitral stenosis is heart condition which was very hard to dragonised during COVID-19 and patients also not able to identify this condition by themselves.