Effect of Coronary Artery Disease on COVID-19-Prognosis and Risk Assessment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Lukasz Szarpak,Malgorzata Mierzejewska,Aleksandra Gasecka,Krzysztof J Filipiak,Natasza Blek,Zubaid Rafique,Zenon Truszewski,Michal Pruc,Jonasz Jurek,Andrea Denegri,Milosz J Jaguszewski,Anna Kochanowska

doi:10.3390/biology11020221

Abstract

Simple SummaryAs of October 2021, over 245 million people have been infected and nearly 5 million have died due to COVID-19. Atherosclerosis is a lipid-driven chronic inflammation of the arterial wall with coronary artery disease (CAD) that may lead to acute coronary syndrome (ACS), which remains the main cause of death in developed countries. We believe that due to CAD development factors affecting the vessel wall, the SARS-CoV-2 infection may precipitate further advancement of future thromboembolic events by a plaque erosion or rupture. Therefore, this metanalysis aims to unambiguously establish the role of the history of CAD in mortality and severity of COVID-19 disease.Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Patients with pre-existing CAD were shown to have a more severe course of COVID-19, but this association has not been clarified. We performed a meta-analysis to determine the association between CAD and COVID-19 outcomes. We searched Scopus, Medline (PubMed), Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane databases up to 2 November 2021. There were 62 studies with a total population of 49,286 patients included in the meta-analysis. CAD occurrence in survivor vs. non-survivor groups varied and amounted to 9.2% vs. 22.9%, respectively (OR = 0.33; 95%CI: 0.29 to 0.39; I2 = 70%; p < 0.001). CAD was also associated with increased severity of COVID-19 disease and was (10.8% vs. 5.6%, respectively, for severe vs. non-severe groups (OR = 2.28; 95%CI: 1.59 to 3.27; I2 = 72%; p < 0.001). The role of history of CAD in mortality and severe condition in COVID-19 presents itself as prominent—although a risk of bias in retrospective trials needs to be assessed, in case of our meta-analysis the statistically significant results when it comes to higher mortality among patients with CAD compared to non-CAD patients, a more severe condition observed in patients with CAD, and a visibly more frequent admission to intensive care unit in patients with CAD, it seems that an incidence of cardiovascular events plays a role in COVID-19 prognosis.

Highlights

COVID-19, caused by new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, was first observed in Wuhan, China in December 2019 [1]
The Mantel–Haenszel method was used to analyze dichotomous outcomes, and we reported results as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs)
1073 records were excluded by screening their titles and abstracts

Summary

Introduction

COVID-19, caused by new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, was first observed in Wuhan, China in December 2019 [1]. Within three months it spread all around the world achieving the status of a pandemic on 11th March 2020 [2]. As of 17 November 2021, 254,589,111 people have been infected and 5,118,866 have died due to COVID-19 [3]. In 2002 in China, SARS-CoV-1 infected 8000 people, killing almost. Thereafter, MERS-CoV spread in Saudi Arabia (2012) and Korea (2015), affecting 2000 people with approximately 35% mortality [4]. The fourth outbreak was caused by SARS-CoV-2 and resulted in the current pandemic. Among individuals without any sign of illness, it may sustain for even 21 days [8]

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