Cardiovascular Disease and COVID-19

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ABSTRACT

Background and objectives:
Many patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have underlying cardiovascular (CV) diseases or develop acute cardiac lesions during the course of the disease. An adequate understanding of the interaction between COVID-19 and CV disease is necessary for optimal management of these patients.

Methods:
A literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google search engines to prepare a review on this topic.

Results:
Respiratory disease is the dominant clinical manifestation of COVID-19; Participation in CV events is lower. Acute cardiac injury, defined as a significant elevation of cardiac troponins, is the most commonly reported cardiac abnormality in COVID-19. It occurs in approximately 8-12% of all patients with direct myocardial injury due to viral involvement of cardiomyocytes and the effect of systemic disease. Inflammation appears to be the most common mechanism responsible for cardiac injury. Information on other CV manifestations in COVID-19 is currently very limited. However, it has been consistently shown that the presence of pre-existing CV disease and/or development of lesions due to acute cardiac disease are associated with significantly worse outcomes in these patients.

Conclusions:
Most current reports on COVID-19 have only briefly described CV manifestations in these patients.
Given the enormous burden of this disease and the significant adverse prognostic impact of cardiac involvement, further research is required to understand the incidence, mechanisms, clinical presentation, and outcomes of various CV manifestations in patients with COVID-19.