Cardiovascular Profile of patients with COVID-19 infection admitted at a tertiary hospital

Abstract

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction In December 2019, a novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was discovered and spread rapidly worldwide. The virus spared no country in its contagiousness. The most common clinical manifestations are respiratory symptoms; but COVID-19 may induce arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and other cardiovascular diseases due to the systemic inflammatory response coupled with localized vascular inflammation. The study aims to provide knowledge about the clinical profile, cardiovascular complications, and clinical outcomes among adult COVID-19 patients admitted to a tertiary hospital. Methods This study is a single-centered cross-sectional retrospective study of hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients between March 2020 to May 2022. COVID-19 confirmed patients who met the inclusion criteria with clinical data upon hospitalization are followed up for occurrence of critical illness. The study's primary outcome is determining the demographic profile and clinical course of COVID-19 infection regarding cardiovascular signs and symptoms. Data were retrieved from electronic health records. All outcomes were obtained with standardized data collection forms, and clinical severity was defined based on the National Institute of Health guidelines. Results A total of 1341 hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients were admitted with a mean age of 50.41±15.92 years. More males than females account for 60.2% of the total number of patients. Hypertension is the most common comorbidity among COVID-19 patients, comprising 44% of cases, followed by diabetes at 31.9% and dyslipidemia at 11.4%. About 5.4% had coronary artery disease, followed by heart disease 6 (3.6%) and arrhythmia (0.6%). Most COVID-19 patients were smokers 12% and alcoholic beverage drinkers (11.4%). A univariate analysis associated with mortality showed diabetes mellitus (odds ratio 2.7, p = 0.029) and hypertension (odds ratio 3.4, p = 0.11). In the multiple logistic regression analysis, factors' age (OR 1.095, estimate coefficient 0.091, standard error 0.028, p-value <0.05) and admission duration (OR 0.906, estimate coefficient -0.099, standard error 0.028, p-value <0.05) were significantly associated with mortality. Based on the fitted model, older people are more likely to be deceased than younger people. The log odds for mortality increase by 0.091 units for each year. During hospital admission, 24.43% of patients developed acute COVID-19 infection, with an in-hospital case-fatality rate of 13.89%. During hospital stay, COVID-19 patients had a significant QTc (.43 ± 0.04, p«0.001). Patients admitted to Non-ICU had lower QTc (.44 ± 0.045) compared to ICU patients (.45 ± .05). Conclusion Myocardial injury and significant cardiovascular risk factors increased mortality among critically-ill COVID-19 patients. Hence, aside from risk factor modification, emphasis on cardiovascular protection should also be considered during treatment for COVID-19.