For many people with heart disease there\u2019s an increased level of anxiety around the implications of COVID-19, but it\u2019s hoped a new study led by Royal North Shore Hospital will guide future treatment and improve health outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head of cardiology Professor Ravinay Bhindi has launched the AUS-COVID study, which will involve more than 800 patients in over 20 hospitals across Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kolling Institute researcher said the study aims to provide clinicians and health services with the valuable information they need to lower complications for COVID-19 patients with cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThere is a lot we just don\u2019t know about COVID-19, although there is some early data from China and Europe suggesting that cardiac patients are particularly vulnerable,\u201d Professor Bhindi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis leads to increased anxiety for patients and it means general practitioners and clinicians are not thoroughly informed about the implications for this group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe study will provide timely advice to help clinicians allocate resources and identify patients most likely to deteriorate and therefore require a higher level of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt will also help identify the patients unlikely to deteriorate, who can be safely discharged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cImportantly, the AUS-COVID study will provide information on the safety of continuing common cardiac medications for patients with COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a really important national study which we believe will assist the large numbers of people with cardiovascular disease in Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Matthew Gray, who was diagnosed with heart disease two years ago has welcomed the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a timely, landmark study which will help fill the gaps in knowledge, and assist GPs and clinicians to better manage people with heart disease who develop Covid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a result of the research, there\u2019ll be reliable information which will directly help me mange my health.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The AUS-COVID study is receiving financial support from the Northern Sydney Local Health District and the Ramsay Hospital Research Foundation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1589,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"research-group-tax":[],"primary-research-area":[],"class_list":["post-1588","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletters"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/root_Blog_Matthew-Gray-and-Professor-Ravinay-Bhindi-1-Large.jpeg",1280,795,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/root_Blog_Matthew-Gray-and-Professor-Ravinay-Bhindi-1-Large-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/root_Blog_Matthew-Gray-and-Professor-Ravinay-Bhindi-1-Large-300x186.jpeg",300,186,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/root_Blog_Matthew-Gray-and-Professor-Ravinay-Bhindi-1-Large-768x477.jpeg",768,477,true],"large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/root_Blog_Matthew-Gray-and-Professor-Ravinay-Bhindi-1-Large-1024x636.jpeg",1024,636,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/root_Blog_Matthew-Gray-and-Professor-Ravinay-Bhindi-1-Large.jpeg",1280,795,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/root_Blog_Matthew-Gray-and-Professor-Ravinay-Bhindi-1-Large.jpeg",1280,795,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ict-wordpress-support@sydney.edu.au","author_link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/author\/ict-wordpress-supportsydney-edu-au\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"For many people with heart disease there\u2019s an increased level of anxiety around the implications of COVID-19, but it\u2019s hoped a new study led by Royal North Shore Hospital will guide future treatment and improve health outcomes. Head of cardiology Professor Ravinay Bhindi has launched the AUS-COVID study, which will involve more than 800 patients…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1588"},{"taxonomy":"research-group-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-group-tax?post=1588"},{"taxonomy":"primary-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary-research-area?post=1588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}