COVID-19 vaccination decrease the risk of Intensive Care Unit hospitalisation in heart failure patients even in the time of Omicron variant: population based study

Abstract

Abstract Background Heart failure (HF) patients, especially those in higher age, are at high risk of severe course of COVID-19. Purpose The aim of this work was to compare the risk of the necessity of intensive care being provided in the Intensive care units in HF patients with and without COVID-19 vaccination in the time of Omicron variant. Methods The analysis was done on data from the National Health Information System, which was supplemented with data from the Information System of Infectious Diseases. Results At the beginning of 2022, we estimate a total of 128,848 HF patients. Of these, 52.5% were men, mean of age (±SD) was 71.8 (±11.6) years, mean of age of women was 78.2 (±10.7). In January 2022, 560,886 cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in the Czech Republic (5,241.1 cases per 100,000 population), the mean of the age was 32.5 (±18.3) years. At this time, the Omicron variant prevailed in the Czech Republic. Total 1,667 COVID-19 cases were HF patients, 56.3% were men. Not vaccinated were 420 patients, vaccinated without booster were 556 patients and vaccinated with booster were 691 patients. The risk of hospitalisation within 14 days from COVID-19 diagnosis was 46.7% (95% CI 41.5%; 51.8%) in not vaccinated group, 37.0% (32.9%; 41.2%) in vaccinated group and 22.6% (19.8; 26.0%) in vaccinated with booster group. The risk of the necessity of intensive care being provided in the Intensive care units was 11.1% (7.7%; 14.5%) in not vaccinated group, 4.7% (2.8%; 6.6%) in vaccinated group and 3.7% (2.0%; 5.4%) in vaccinated with booster group (Figure 1). Conclusion COVID-19 vaccination decrease the risk of Intensive Care Unit hospitalisation in heart failure patients even in the time of Omicron variant. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public hospital(s). Main funding source(s): The Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic – conceptual development of research organisation (FNBr, 65269705; funding was given to University Hospital Brno)