Adults who require hospital admission for COVID-19 have a markedly increased risk of cardiovascular events and death than those who recuperate in the community or are not infected, a large database study shows.

UK researchers have found in a prospective study that infection with COVID-19 is tied to a 118-fold greater risk of dying among hospitalised cases compared with a 10-fold increased risk for non-hospitalised patients.

In addition, the patients with more severe disease had substantially greater likelihood of VTE, heart failure and stroke than matched uninfected individuals.

Their findings, based on data from 54,000 UK Biobank participants — a third of whom had confirmed coronavirus infection — provided the clearest picture to date of the cardiovascular and mortality sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 exposure.