Cardiac Complications in COVID-19 Infected Patients Admitted in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi

Abstract

The objective of the current cross-sectional study was to determine the frequency, types, associations, and outcome of cardiac complications in hospitalized COVID-19 infected patients. This study was conducted at Dr. Ziauddin University Hospital, Clifton campus, Karachi, from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021. A total number of 1,050 patients were included in the study through consecutive sampling with the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Patients were labeled as having complications secondary to COVID pneumonia only after comparing their hospital's clinical course with their baseline status. The independent variables were age, gender, cardiovascular risk factors (smoking status, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension), while the dependent variables were cardiac complications including acute coronary syndrome, myocarditis, pericarditis, and arrhythmias. The Association of complications with independent variables was analyzed by applying the Chi-Square test and statistical significance was set at a P-value of ≤0.05. There were 599 (57.0%) males and 451 (43.0%) females with the mean age of the participants being 55.1 years (± 13.08) years. Diabetes and hypertension were present in 451 (43.0%) and 490 (46.6%) patients respectively. Out of 1050 patients, the primary endpoint occurred in 55.6% of patients, including 23.1% acute coronary syndrome, 19.3% arrhythmias, 10.8% myocarditis, and 2.2% pericarditis. Analysis of secondary endpoint showed that 31.1% of patients had severe disease out of which the mortality was 39.4%. Acute coronary syndrome and atrial fibrillation are frequent complications, especially in those with severe disease and multi-organ dysfunction. Furthermore, the incidence of these complications is higher in patients with multiple co-morbidities. Considering the devastating impact this pandemic has had globally, it is important to know the cardiac involvement this condition can have along with the debilitating outcome so that healthcare facilities can be upgraded to provide better care to save lives.