Bloomberg The Covid pandemic didn’t just kill people directly. It appears to have accelerated a long-brewing reversal in US heart failure deaths, with mortality climbing faster since 2020 after years of decline, new research shows.
The increases have been most pronounced among younger adults and Black Americans, pointing to disruptions in care and worsening conditions such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure that intensified during the health emergency, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Heart failure has emerged as one of the clearest signals of the pandemic’s lasting impact on chronic disease. Unlike heart attacks or strokes, which are sudden events, heart failure reflects cumulative damage and is especially sensitive to gaps in routine care and long-term management.