Burnham Park in May 2020 was lush and pristine. The flowering plants around the lake threatened to take over the path, and the grass was knee-high.
Three months after the lockdown, the city was trying to open up. Runners and casual joggers had the same thought then: the air was crisper, and it was time to return to running.
One of the runners I got acquainted with then was Gerry. He always wore reflectorized shorts, and you knew he smiled a lot despite the face mask (and face shield) we had to wear, even while running. We also had to impose our distance on each other, so the book The Loneliness of a Long-Distance Runner rang true. Runners also spread the unfounded theory at that time that you could get COVID-19 from someone running directly behind you, so everybody ran on different lanes.
After two months, Gerry decided to take off his face mask and face shield while running because it interfered with his breathing. But he still ran regularly. In December 2020, I started not to spot Gerry at the Burnham Oval and later heard he got COVID.
We saw each other again more than a year later. Gerry told me about his stay in that eerie abandoned hospital that was converted into a quarantine area. A mild hypochondriac, Gerry decided to stay fit to avoid hospitalization again.
But in 2024, I heard that Gerry had an ischemic stroke. Knowing of his physical regimen, it took me aback. I remembered him telling me about his father dying of a heart attack, but he wasn’t yet taking heart medications.
Later, I would hear other stories like Gerry’s: mostly men who contracted COVID-19 and then had MACE or massive adverse cardiac events, like myocardial infarction, stroke, and even mortality.
Data compiled by the Center for Health Development of the Department of Health – Cordillera showed that hypertension and heart disease are among the top three comorbidities among confirmed COVID-19-positive patients. CHD compiled the report from March 2020 to January 2025.
Hypertension is first, with a total of 12,543 cases from 2020 to 2025. Diabetes is a far second with 4,232, and third is heart disease with 2,680. The fourth is asthma, with 2,012, and the fifth is cancer, with 1,695. Rounding up the top ten are chronic kidney disease (918), lung disease (604), genito-urinary disease (288), pneumonia (227) and gastrointestinal disease (223).
Hypertension accounted for half of the comorbidities of all 25,422 positive COVID-19 cases. If we include heart diseases, both will account for 60%. Most of the cases involving hypertension (7,545) occurred in 2021, when the deadly Delta variant was raging, and in 2022 (3,647 cases) when the less deadly Omicron came at the onset of that year.
It was understandable that only 578 COVID-19 cases involving hypertension occurred in 2020 because of the health restrictions the city imposed.
But more telling are the cases after the danger seemed to be over. In 2023, there were still 549 COVID-19 cases with hypertension as a comorbidity (out of the total 1,503 cases that year) and 224 cases (out of the total 547) in 2024.
The World Health Organization declared the end of COVID-19 as early as May 2023, but its effects seemed to linger far beyond that. Why does the virus seem to linger?
In October 2024, a study was published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, which showed that those who were diagnosed with severe COVID-19 infections, especially from the first wave of the pandemic, could double the risk of heart attack and stroke.
The study, which has the title “COVID-19 is a Coronary Artery Disease Risk Equivalent and Exhibits a Genetic Interaction with ABO Blood Type,” has been quoted by many newspapers and TV outlets because the study said that the risk for heart attacks and strokes for COVID-19-positive patients could last for up to three years.
In our email query with Hooman Allayee, PhD, the study leader and a professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, he said that their study would mean that effective heart disease prevention strategies should be employed for patients who have had severe COVID-19.
“Cardiovascular mortality trends from 2010 to 2019 were steadily going down. Then, between 2020 and 2022, there was a catastrophe,” he said.
The study analyzed data from 10,000 people enrolled in the UK Biobank, an extensive biomedical database of European patients. At the time of enrollment, patients aged 40 to 69 included 8,000 who had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and 2,000 who were hospitalized with severe COVID-19 between Feb. 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020. As no vaccines were developed at that time, none of the patients were vaccinated.
According to the study, the likelihood of heart attack, stroke and mortality doubled for those who had been struck by COVID-19, especially in the first wave, compared to those who never had it. It is even four times higher for those who had severe COVID-19 infection and were hospitalized. This danger persisted for more than three years after the initial infection.
“The question now is whether or not severe COVID-19 should be considered another risk factor for cardiovascular disease, much like type 2 diabetes or peripheral artery disease, where treatment focused on cardiovascular disease prevention may be valuable,” Allayee said.
Although the cases involved mostly White people, the study is still significant to Filipinos because it said that blood types also make a difference.
The study said that those with blood types A, B, and AB were more vulnerable than those with Type O. Hospitalization for the disease more than doubled the risk of heart attack or stroke among patients with A, B, or AB blood types, but not in patients with O types, which seemed to be associated with a lower risk of severe COVID-19.
According to a 2009 study by the University of the Philippines Diliman, Type O is the most prevalent among Filipinos. The study (“Frequency Distribution of Blood Groups ABO, MN and Rh Factor in Philippine Cosmopolitan, Regional and the National Populations”) took samples from three areas in the country (UP Diliman, Isabela State University and the Philippine Red Cross databank) and found that Type O constituted from 44% to 41.2% of the population.
Type A constituted 32% to 25%, while Type B comprised 25.7% to 17%. Type AB is Filipinos’ least common blood type, comprising 6.78% to 5.8%.
Those who made the Biobank study found the need to vaccinate against COVID-19 and since the effect can last for more than three years, the need for booster shots is also essential for good health.
The study also inferred that the findings was only on people infected during the first wave and it is indefinite whether the risk of cardiovascular disease is likewise insistent to those who have had severe COVID-19 from 2021 onwards.
And because of this risk, treatment focused on cardiovascular disease prevention may be valuable, the study said.
I recently visited Gerry, who turned out to have Type A blood, and he has almost recovered completely from his stroke. He plans to run regularly once he is able, but he has now a regimen of anti-hypertensive medicines and treatment as well.
During our workshop with the Alliance and Partnership for Patient Innovation and Solutions (APPIS) and Novartis Healthcare Philippines, it was determined that a multi-sectoral approach is key to reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases and managing risk factors such as high cholesterol.
“Through the collaboration of medical societies, government, industry and communities, we can implement lifestyle interventions and enhance access to care focusing on prevention for a healthier future for all,” said Philippine Lipid and Atherosclerosis Society (PLAS) president Dr. Deborah David Ona.
In the Philippines, CVD is the leading noncommunicable disease, with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease as the top contributor. ASCVD includes ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, which are among the top causes of death in the country. The three top risk factors of ASCVD are high systolic pressure, high-fat diet, and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C or “bad cholesterol”).
According to Joycelyn Rillorta, the coordinator of Noncommunicable Diseases at the DOH-CAR, the provinces with the highest hypertensive cases are Benguet, Kalinga and Mt. Province. Baguio City only ranked fourth.
Dr. Raul Lapitan, adult clinical cardiologist and echocardiographer at the Makati Medical Center, said managing LDL-C has become easier with new, innovative techniques.
“LDL-C levels can be controlled and potentially reduced through lifestyle changes, dietary modifications, and medication. By implementing medical interventions and making appropriate lifestyle changes, individuals can lower their LDL-C levels, thereby reducing their risk of heart attack, stroke and other associated health issues,” he said. – Rappler.com
This article is part of the Unblock Your Heart Health Reporting initiative, supported by the Philippine Press Institute and Novartis, to improve health literacy on cardiovascular diseases. Know your numbers, understand your risks, and consult your doctor—so no Filipino heart is lost too soon. Take control of your heart health today. Visit unblockedmovement.ph for more information.