Abstract 15282: COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations, and Vaccination Among Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

Abstract

Background: There are conflicting data as to whether congenital heart disease (CHD) should be considered a condition that places a person at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19. The objective of our study was to compare COVID-19 cases, hospitalization rate, and vaccine uptake among adults with history of cardiac intervention vs. the general US adult population. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of adults using survey data from the Congenital Heart Disease Project to Understand Lifelong Survivor Experience (CHD PULSE). This survey, conducted in 2021-2022, queried CHD survivors regarding a variety of domains, including history of COVID-19 infection and vaccination. Adults with a history of surgical, catheter, or electrophysiologic intervention at 1 of 8 Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium centers were eligible for inclusion. Results were limited to those aged 18-49 years to allow comparison to age-specific data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results: Among 1,277 respondents (20.2% response rate), the median age was 32 years (IQR: 27-38 years), the majority were female (55.6%), and the most common race/ethnicity was Non-Hispanic White (89.9%). There was no difference in history of a positive COVID-19 test in persons with CHD compared to adults of a similar age (26.8% vs 28.1%, p=0.86). However. those with CHD and COVID-19 were significantly more likely to require hospitalization than adults in the general population with COVID-19 (1.75% vs. 0.26%, p=0.004) (Figure). Regarding COVID-19 vaccination, 76.5% of CHD PULSE respondents reported a history of at least 1 COVID-19 vaccine, with no differences vs. the general population when compared by age (p=0.99). Conclusions: Given higher hospitalization rates among adults with CHD and COVID-19, CHD should be considered a medical condition that places one at increased risk of severe COVID-19. These findings underscore the importance of COVID-19 vaccination in this population.