Ty Gluckman, MD: Cardiovascular Concerns in 2022

One of the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is cardiovascular concerns.

With many gyms closed, activities cancelled, and people picking up poor habits

In an interview with HCPLive® during Pri-Med West 2022 in Anaheim, Ty Gluckman, MD, Medical Director of the Medical Director, Center for Cardiovascular Analytics, Research, and Data Science (CARDS), explained how the pandemic may have resulted in an increase in bad cholesterol results for many.

Gluckman said there is legitimate concern over patients comining in with higher cholesterol because of the bad habits they picked up during the pandemic in regard to food, alcohol, and a lack of exercise.

“It was very sobering to see that year over year increases in both systolic and dystolic blood pressures have gone up, rates of obesirty have gone up,” Gluckman said. “So it is absolutely no question that that access to a lot services has played a role and access to clinicians, especially early on in the pandemic, has created challenges.”

Another concern is the severity of disease.

Many patients did forego appointments and screenings during the initial part of the pandemic due fear of catching COVID-19 in a hospital setting.