More Canadians live longer with chronic disease, putting them at greater risk of dying from COVID-19, heart researchers say.
Heart researchers say there’s a surprising reason Canada has seen higher COVID-19 deaths than many countries with fewer health-care resources — more Canadians live longer with chronic disease, putting them at greater risk of dying from COVID-19.
Research led by Heart & Stroke also found the pandemic has likely postponed thousands of cardiovascular procedures.
Lead author Cindy Yip said the findings underscore the devastating consequences of poor heart health, even if excellent medical care and technology are available.
“Quality of care is good to have, but it’s not enough,” said Yip, principal investigator and director of data knowledge management at Heart & Stroke, formerly known as the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
She said Canadians are somewhat vulnerable to pandemics such as COVID-19 because so many have survived other health crises.
“Because people are living longer with chronic disease like heart conditions and stroke, we need to take actions, and we need them to take care of their health in order to avoid the poor outcome from COVID-19.”
The study notes 11.7 per cent of Canadians