Abstract
BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) primarily causes lung infection, but recent studies have shown that cardiac involvement is associated with a worse prognosis.ObjectivesWe conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis to examine the prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias detected by the electrocardiogram and their relationships with adverse outcomes in patients with COVID‐19.MethodsPubMed and Google were searched for studies that reported on cardiac arrhythmias and/or examined the relationship between arrhythmias and adverse outcomes.ResultsThirty studies with 12,713 participants were included in the systematic review, and 28 studies (n = 12,499) in the meta‐analysis. The mean age was 61.3 ± 16.8 years; 39.3% were female. In 25 studies with 7578 patients, the overall prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias was 10.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.4%–12.3%). The most common arrhythmias documented during hospitalization were supraventricular arrhythmias (6.2%, 95% CI: 4.4%–8.1%) followed by ventricular arrhythmias (2.5%, 95% CI: 1.8%–3.1%). The incidence of cardiac arrhythmias was higher among critically ill patients (relative risk [RR]: 12.1, 95% CI: 8.5–17.3) and among non‐survivors (RR: 3.8, 95%, CI: 1.7–8.7). Eight studies reported changes in the QT interval. The prevalence of QTc > 500 ms was 12.3% (95% CI: 6.9%–17.8%). ST‐segment deviation was reported in eight studies, with a pooled estimate of 8.7% (95% CI: 7.3% to 10.0%).ConclusionOur meta‐analysis showed that QTc prolongation, ST‐segment deviation, and various other cardiac arrhythmias were observed in patients hospitalized with COVID‐19. The presence of cardiac arrhythmias was associated with a worse prognosis.
Published Version
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