SYDNEY, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- An Australian study has discovered inflammatory markers in the blood of long COVID patients that could explain why many suffer from heart issues.

Published on Thursday by the University of Queensland (UQ), the study identified escalated levels of cytokines, a type of protein that controls inflammation in the body, in blood samples taken from people about 18 months post-infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Kirsty Short, a member of the research team from UQ's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, said that subsequent lab studies discovered that the cytokines directly affected the function of cardiomyocytes, muscle cells that are responsible for the heart's pumping function.

"These particular types of cells are fundamental building blocks for our heart, so damaging them can lead to cardiovascular symptoms," she said.

She said that the finding offered important insights into long COVID and could offer opportunities to improve its diagnosis, treatment and understanding.

The study involved researchers from UQ as well as Flinders University, the University of Adelaide, the Australian National University (ANU) and several leading medical research institutes.

The team analyzed the blood of 50 participants across Australia who had either suffered from long COVID for over a year, had recovered from COVID-19 or had never contracted the virus.

"We're now curious to know whether our findings could be applied to other symptoms of long COVID such as neurological disease or respiratory disease, as this study actively recruited sufferers with chest pain and/or heart palpitations," Short said.

A separate study published by ANU, the University of Melbourne and University of New South Wales Sydney in August estimated that workers suffering from long COVID cost the Australian economy 9.6 billion Australian dollars (6.3 billion U.S. dollars) in lost productivity in 2022. Enditem

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