Getting COVID-19 increases a persons risk of having a heart attack or stroke at the same rate as developing heart disease, a new study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology claims.The new study, led be researchers at the University of Southern California, UCLA and Cleveland Clinic, included 10,005 people who had COVID-19 and 217,730 people who did not get infected between February 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.The study began when COVID-19 vaccinations were not widely available. Since only a small number of Americans had gotten a COVID-19 shot by late December 2020, the study only included those who had not been vaccinated.RELATED STORY | Harnessing Your Health: What you need to know about COVID-19, flu, and RSV for the fall and winterThe researchers said they looked for links between the severity of COVID-19 infections and major cardiac events over approximately three years. What they found was that a hospitalization caused by COVID-19 put people at a similar, if not higher, risk for future strokes, heart attacks and other problems as someone with heart disease.The study also noted that those with non-O blood types faced a particularly higher risk of cardiac events.Were trying to rule out other alternative explanations, but it looks like theres really something biological going on with these specific blood groups, said Hooman Allayee, lead author of the study and professor at USC.The new data could help inform doctors when determining if a person is at a higher risk of a cardiac event.RELATED STORY | Most Americans don't plan to get an updated COVID shot despite recommendationsThis study underscores that we should consider history of prior COVID-19 infection when formulating cardiovascular disease preventive plans and goals, said co-senior author Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at Cleveland Clinic.