Researchers accuse FHI of ignoring covid heart risks

Researchers Arne Søraas and Gunhild Nyborg say covid-19 may have caused cardiovascular damage in Norway that the health service has failed to detect, NRK reports. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, known as FHI, rejects their criticism.

“We have tried in vain to warn FHI, politicians and the health service,” said Nyborg, a doctor and researcher.

Nyborg and infectious disease specialist Søraas work on the Covid Study at Oslo University Hospital, where they research long-term effects of covid-19. They are concerned that the virus may have caused damage that has not been identified by the health service.

“There were warnings about this. How those warnings were handled must be investigated,” Søraas said.

Warning signs in heart health

Recent figures from FHI show that the number of people with heart disease has increased by 9 per cent since 2021. The number of people developing high blood pressure or heart failure has also risen, and the increase cannot be explained by an ageing population, according to the figures.

At the same time, the use of cardiovascular medicines among young adults has surged in recent years. A Norwegian study recently reported by NRK found that covid-19 was associated with an increased risk of an imperceptible, chronic injury to the heart.

“We know that the coronavirus can damage the cells lining the blood vessels and cause inflammation both there and in heart muscle cells. It is known that this increases the risk of many types of cardiovascular disease. What we are now seeing in mortality statistics and medicine use in Norway is as expected,” Nyborg said.

International research

Nyborg said she was not surprised by the development and that the figures matched warnings from the international research community over several years.

“We know from a large number of international studies that the risk of cardiovascular disease is higher after having covid-19. I saw the first worrying study on this in July 2020,” she said.

Nyborg pointed to several studies that she said support the same picture. One found that covid-19 does not only cause general inflammation in the body, but that the virus physically infects blood vessels in the heart.

Another Norwegian study by Nyborg and Søraas indicated excess mortality among children and young people in Norway between 2022 and 2025, and suggested that long-term effects of covid-19 were the cause. A large Swedish population study found an increased risk of various heart conditions, including among people who had experienced a mild illness.

A report from the European Society of Cardiology also concluded that covid-19 has a clear and long-term effect on the cardiovascular system. The report said covid-19 should be considered a long-term risk factor for the heart, including among people who had only experienced mild illness.

Although the risk is small for each individual, the report said more people would become ill across a population. Cardiologists from the society suggested that 2 to 5 per cent of people infected with covid-19 could develop long-term heart-related damage.

David Putrino, a professor of neuroscience at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, also warned that countries such as Norway would see an increase in the number of people with heart disease.

“Covid-19 is a disease that also affects the cardiovascular system. If the science is right, we will see an increase in these diseases in the future,” Putrino said.

Nyborg said research showed that covid-19 was a systemic disease affecting several of the body’s organs, rather than only a respiratory infection like influenza. She stressed that more research was needed, including into how much the risk of cardiovascular disease increases after infection with the latest variants or after repeated infections.

FHI rejects firm conclusions

NRK asked FHI to respond to the criticism. Kristian Tonby, the institute’s director of infectious disease control, declined to be interviewed but replied by email.

Despite the growing number of studies showing an association between covid-19 and heart disease, Tonby said there was no basis for drawing firm conclusions.

“The incidence and mortality of heart attacks and strokes continue to decline in Norway when we adjust for the fact that the population has become older. This fits poorly with the claim that having had covid-19, which applies to the entire population of Norway, increases the risk of these diseases,” Tonby wrote.