Blood clots remain a massive potential side effect from COVID-19 months down the line
Illustration by Zoe Peterson, Deseret News
An infection from the novel coronavirus increases your risk of serious blood clots months down the road, a new international study suggests.
Driving the news: International scientists from the United Kingdom and Finland recently compared more than 1 million people in Sweden who caught COVID-19, per ABC News.
What they found: The team of researchers discovered that patients who had COVID-19 were at an increased risk of blood clots in their legs or lungs about three to six months after infection.
- “Specifically, patients had a significantly increased risk of deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot that forms deep in the thigh or the lower leg,” ABC News reports.
- There was also an increased chance of experiencing a pulmonary embolism, which is when a blood clot develops in a blood vessel and travels to the arteries in your lungs.
What they said: “The findings of this study suggest that covid-19 is a risk factor for deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and bleeding,” the researchers said in the study’s abstract.
- “These results could impact recommendations on diagnostic and prophylactic strategies against venous thromboembolism after COVID-19.”
The bigger picture: Back in August 2021, there was a debate about whether or not the COVID-19 vaccine or a COVID-19 infection could make you experience blood clots, as I wrote about for the Deseret News.
- A study — which was peer-reviewed and published in the British Medical Journal — found that the risk of rare blood events were “substantially higher” after COVID-19 infection compared to the vaccine.
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