Possible Correlations between Atherosclerosis, Acute Coronary Syndromes and COVID-19.

Oliwia Grzegorowska,Jacek Lorkowski

doi:10.3390/jcm9113746

Oliwia Grzegorowska, Jacek Lorkowski

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9113746

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Abstract

An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection in December 2019 became a major global concern in 2020. Since then, several articles analyzing the course, complications and mechanisms of the infection have appeared. However, there are very few papers explaining the possible correlations between COVID-19, atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes. We performed an analysis of PubMed, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and MEDLINE databases. As of September 15, 2020, the results were as follows: for “COVID-19” and “cardiovascular system” we obtained 687 results; for “COVID-19” and “myocardial infarction” together with “COVID-19” and “acute coronary syndrome” we obtained 328 results; for “COVID-19” and “atherosclerosis” we obtained 57 results. Some of them did not fulfill the search criteria or concerned the field of neurology. Only articles written in English, German and Polish were analyzed for a total number of 432 papers. While the link between inflammatory response, COVID- 19 and atherosclerosis still remains unclear, there is evidence that suggests a more likely correlation between them. Practitioners’ efforts should be focused on the prevention of excessive inflammatory response and possible complications, while there are limited specific therapeutic options against SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, special attention should be paid to cardioprotection during the pandemic.

Highlights

An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 became a major global concern in 2020
Special attention should be paid to cardioprotection during the pandemic
Emphasis should be put on the fact that multiple articles are being published on a daily basis, making our knowledge ever more complete and we acknowledge that the data available at the time of this writing may be obsolete in the future

Summary

Introduction

An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 became a major global concern in 2020. Several articles analyzing the course, complications and mechanisms of the infection have appeared. Multiple studies describing involvement of the cardiovascular system and management of cardiovascular complications are available. There are only a few papers explaining possible correlations between COVID-19, atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes. The topic is of utmost importance given the possibility of reducing the COVID-19 mortality rate. In this case, creating evidence-based algorithms improves effectiveness and speeds up the thought process and results in increased survival rates

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