The effect of cardiovascular disease and acute cardiac injury on fatal COVID-19: a meta-analysis

The impact of COVID-19 status and vaccine type following the first dose on acute heart disease: A nationwide retrospective cohort study in South Korea

Recent studies have suggested an increased incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA vaccination or COVID-19. However, the potential interaction effect between vaccine type and COVID-19 on heart disease risk remains uncertain. Our study aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 status and vaccine type following the first dose on acute heart disease in the Korean population, using data from the National Health Insurance Service COVID-19 database (October 2018-March 2022). We sought to provide insights for public health policies and clinical decisions pertaining to COVID-19 vaccination strategies. We analysed heart disease risk, including acute cardiac injury, acute myocarditis, acute pericarditis, cardiac arrest, and cardiac arrhythmia, in relation to vaccine type and COVID-19 within 21 days after the first vaccination date, employing Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying covariates. This study included 3,350,855 participants. The results revealed higher heart disease risk in individuals receiving mRNA vaccines than other types (adjusted HR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.35-1.62). Individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2 also exhibited significantly higher heart disease risk than those uninfected (adjusted HR, 3.56; 95% CI, 1.15-11.04). We found no significant interaction effect between vaccine type and COVID-19 status on the risk of acute heart disease. Notably, however, younger individuals who received mRNA vaccines had a higher heart disease risk compared to older individuals. These results may suggest the need to consider alternative vaccine options for the younger population. Further research is needed to understand underlying mechanisms and guide vaccination strategies effectively.

Brief report: Effect of cardiac multi-morbidity on COVID hospitalization outcomes

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched healthcare resources thin and led to significant morbidity and mortality. There have been no studies utilizing national data to investigate the role of cardiac risk factors on outcomes of COVID hospitalizations. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of cardiac multimorbidity on healthcare utilization and outcomes among COVID hospitalizations during the first year of the pandemic.

METHODS

Using the national inpatient sample (NIS), we identified all adult hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of COVID in 2020, using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification codes (ICD010-CM). Coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, previous stroke, and atrial fibrillation were then identified as cardiac comorbidities using ICD-10-CM codes. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the effect of cardiac multimorbidity on mortality and mechanical ventilation.

RESULTS

We identified 1,005,040 primary COVID admissions in 2020. Of these admissions, 216,545 (20.6%) had CAD, 413,195 (39.4%) had DM, 176,780 (16.8%) had HF, 159,700 (15.2%) had AF, 30735 (2.9%) had PVD, and 25,155 (2.4%) had a previous stroke. When stratified by number of comorbidities, 428390 (40.8%) had 0 comorbidities, 354960 (33.8%) had 1, 161225 (15.4%) had 2, and 105465 (10.0%) had 3+ comorbidities. COVID hospitalizations with higher cardiac multimorbidity had higher mortality rates (p<0.001) higher MV rates (p<0.001). In our multivariable regression, these associations remained with increasing odds for mortality with each stepwise increase in cardiac multimorbidity (1: OR 1.48 (1.45-1.50); 2: OR 2.13 (2.09-2.17); 3+: OR 2.43 (2.38-2.48), p<0.001, all).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study is the first national examination of the impact of cardiac comorbidities on COVID outcomes. A higher number of cardiac comorbidities was associated with significantly higher rates of MV and in-hospital mortality, independent of age. Future, more granular, and longitudinal studies are needed to further examine these associations.

COVID-19's immuno-pathology and cardiovascular diseases

The pandemic of COVID-19 in worldwide causes recent millions of morbidity and mortality in all countries and is the most important challenge in the world in recent years. Coronavirus is a single-stranded RNA virus and infection with COVID-19 leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome, lung inflammation, cytokine storm, and death. The other complications include endothelial dysfunction, activation of coagulation, thromboembolic events, and vascular disease. Cardiovascular complications such as myocardial and stroke ischemia, pulmonary thromboembolism, systemic arterial, and deep vein thrombosis were reported. In this review, we presented immuno-pathological mechanisms and the effects of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system, heart, vessels, coagulation system, and molecular glance of immuno-inflammation to the COVID-19's pathology on the cardiovascular system.

COVID19 biomarkers: What did we learn from systematic reviews?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic continues to represent a substantial public health concern. It can rapidly progress to severe disease, with poor prognosis and a high mortality risk. An early diagnosis and specific prognostic tools can help healthcare providers to start interventions promptly, understand the likely prognosis and to identify and treat timely individuals likely to develop severe disease with enhanced mortality risk. Here we focused on an impressive set of systematic reviews and meta-analyses that were performed since the start of the COVID19 pandemic and summarized their results related to the levels of hematologic, inflammatory, immunologic biomarkers as well as markers of cardiac, respiratory, hepatic, gastrointestinal and renal systems and their association with the disease progression, severity and mortality. The evidence outlines the significance of specific biomarkers, including inflammatory and immunological parameters (C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6), hematological (lymphocytes count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, D-dimer, ferritin, red blood cell distribution width), cardiac (troponin, CK-MB, myoglobin), liver (AST, ALT, total bilirubin, albumin) and lung injury (Krebs von den Lungen-6) that can be used as prognostic biomarkers to aid the identification of high-risk patients and the prediction of serious outcomes, including mortality, in COVID19. Thus, these parameters should be used as essential tools for an early risk stratification and adequate intervention in improving disease outcomes in COVID19 patients.

Cardiac Injury in COVID-19: A Systematic Review of Relevant Meta-Analyses

Background

Cardiac injury (CI) is not a rare condition among hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Its prognostic value has been extensively reported through the literature, mainly in the context of observational studies. An impressive number of relevant meta-analyses has been conducted. These meta-analyses present similar and consistent results; yet interesting methodological issues emerge.

Methods

A systematic literature search was conducted aiming to identify all relevant meta-analyses on (i) the incidence, and (ii) the prognostic value of CI among hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Results

Among 118 articles initially retrieved, 73 fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Various criteria were used for CI definition mainly based on elevated cardiac biomarkers levels. The most frequently used biomarker was troponin. 30 meta-analyses reported the pooled incidence of CI in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 that varies from 5% to 37%. 32 meta-analyses reported on the association of CI with COVID-19 infection severity, with only 6 of them failing to show a statistically significant association. Finally, 46 meta-analyses investigated the association of CI with mortality and showed that patients with COVID-19 with CI had increased risk for worse prognosis. Four meta-analyses reported pooled adjusted hazard ratios for death in patients with COVID-19 and CI vs those without CI ranging from 1.5 to 3.

Conclusions

The impact of CI on the prognosis of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 has gained great interest during the pandemic. Methodological issues such as the inclusion of not peer-reviewed studies, the inclusion of potentially overlapping populations or the inclusion of studies with unadjusted analyses for confounders should be taken into consideration. Despite these limitations, the adverse prognosis of patients with COVID-19 and CI has been consistently demonstrated.

Myocarditis Following Coronavirus Disease 2019 mRNA Vaccine: A Case Series and Incidence Rate Determination

BACKGROUND

Myocarditis following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) has been increasingly reported. Incidence rates in the general population are lacking, with pericarditis rather than myocarditis diagnostic codes being used to estimate background rates. This comparison is critical for balancing the risk of vaccination with the risk of no vaccination.

METHODS

A retrospective case series was performed using the Mayo Clinic COVID-19 Vaccine Registry. We measured the incidence rate ratio (IRR) for myocarditis temporally related to COVID-19 mRNA vaccination compared with myocarditis in a comparable population from 2016 through 2020. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of the affected patients were collected. A total of 21 individuals were identified, but ultimately 7 patients met the inclusion criteria for vaccine-associated myocarditis.

RESULTS

The overall IRR of COVID-19-related myocarditis was 4.18 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.63-8.98), which was entirely attributable to an increased IRR among adult males (IRR, 6.69; 95% CI, 2.35-15.52) compared with females (IRR 1.41; 95% CI, .03-8.45). All cases occurred within 2 weeks of a dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, with the majority occurring within 3 days (range, 1-13) following the second dose (6 of 7 patients, 86%). Overall, cases were mild, and all patients survived.

CONCLUSIONS

Myocarditis is a rare adverse event associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. It occurs in adult males with significantly higher incidence than in the background population. Recurrence of myocarditis after a subsequent mRNA vaccine dose is not known at this time.

Prevalence, Predictors, and Outcomes of Myocardial Injury in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients—An Observational Retrospective Study

COVID-19 mainly causes pulmonary manifestation; nonetheless, its systemic inflammatory response involves multiple organs, including the heart. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of myocardial injury in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods and Results: We performed an observational retrospective analysis on patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in a moderate-sized community hospital system. Myocardial injury was defined as highly sensitive troponin T levels in the 99th percentile above the normal upper limit for the respective biological sex. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to assess the association between the myocardial-injury and the no-myocardial-injury groups for primary and secondary outcomes. A total of 1632 (49.3% male, 41.7% aged 60–79 years) patients with COVID-19 were included, out of which 312 (19.1%) had a myocardial injury. Patients with myocardial injury were older (36.9% > 80 years) and had higher cardiovascular-related comorbidities than those without. The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (78.5% vs. 52.0%) and cardiovascular diseases (78.2% vs. 56.1%) was much higher in the myocardial-injury group. Older age (50–64 years vs. <49 years; OR, 3.67 [1.99–6.74]), Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs) (OR, 1.44 [1.01–2.05]), Beta-blockers (OR, 2.37 [1.80–3.13]), and cardiovascular comorbidities (OR, 1.49 [1.09–2.05]) were strong predictors of cardiac injury after multivariable adjustment. Myocardial injury was strongly associated with ICU admission (adjusted OR, 1.68 [1.29–2.19]) and longer length of hospital stay (median days, 5 (3, 9) vs. 4 (2, 7)). The results do not show a significant difference in the use of mechanical ventilation (OR, 1.29 [0.87–1.89]) or in-hospital mortality (OR, 1.37 [0.98–1.91]) with respect to myocardial injury. Conclusion: This multicenter retrospective study of nearly 1600 patients revealed the following findings: Myocardial injury was observed in 1 out of 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 but was more often clinically insignificant. Patients of age > 65 had very high odds of having elevated troponin levels after adjusting for sex and other illnesses. Pre-existing cardiac diseases and risk factors were robust predictors of cardiac injury after adjusting for age and sex. In the adjusted model, myocardial injury was not associated with the requirement of mechanical ventilation or change in in-hospital mortality.

SARS-CoV-2 humoral immune response in patients with cardiovascular risk factors: the COmmunity Cohort Study protocol

INTRODUCTION

The COmmunity Cohort Study aims to determine, after natural exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines deployed in Chile to prevent COVID-19 in the context of the current pandemic, the strength and duration of detectable neutralising antibodies in adult ambulatory primary care patients with cardiovascular risk factors.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will set up a community-based longitudinal, prospective cohort study. The study will be conducted in two public outpatient clinics located in the southern district of Santiago, Chile. We expect to begin recruitment in the second quarter of 2022. Each patient will be followed up for at least 1 year after inclusion in the cohort. The eligible population will be adult patients registered in the Cardiovascular Health Programme. Exposure in this study is defined as any event where participants have contact with SARS-CoV-2 antigens from natural exposure or vaccination. The primary outcomes are seroconversion and strength and duration of the neutralising IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Secondary outcomes are any COVID-19-related event or intercurrent morbidities or death. Data will be collected by extracting serial blood samples and administering a questionnaire at the first face-to-face contact and monthly follow-up time points. The sample size estimated for this study is 1060. We will characterise the cohort, determine the seroprevalence rate of neutralising antibodies at baseline and determine the rates of antibody decline using a longitudinal mixed-effects model.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The Scientific Ethics Committee of the South Metropolitan Health Care Service approved the study protocol (Memorandum No 191/2021). We will present the results in two peer-reviewed publications and national and international professional and academic meetings. We will organise seminars with relevant stakeholders and hold town hall meetings with the local community. We will set up a COmmunity Cohort Study website at www.communitystudy.cl to disseminate the study purpose, research team and milestones.

Identification précoce des phénotypes cardiovasculaires chez les patients en insuffisance respiratoire aiguë au cours de la première pandémie Covid-19

Objectif : L'objectif principal était de comparer la prévalence de la dysfonction ventriculaire gauche (VG) et/ ou droite (VD) des patients admis au service d'urgence (SU) avec une insuffisance respiratoire aiguë (IRA) secondaire ou non à une pneumopathie à Covid-19.

Méthodes : Pendant un mois, nous avons inclus (24/7) de façon prospective les patients de l'unité de Covid-19 du SU qui présentaient une IRA. Pour chaque patient, un test RT-PCR, une tomodensitométrie thoracique et une échographie cardiaque de niveau 2 et pulmonaire étaient systématiquement réalisés avant toute intervention thérapeutique. Chaque patient était classé selon les phénotypes cardiovasculaires suivants : insuffisance VG, insuffisance VD, hypovolémie ± hyperkinésie et profil hémodynamique normal.

Résultats : Parmi les 517 patients admis pendant la période d'étude, 78 présentaient une IRA (15 %) et 62 ont bénéficié d'une échocardiographie de niveau 2 (âge : 73 ± 14 ans ; SpO2 : 90 ± 4 % ; lactate : 2,1 ± 1,3 mmol/l). Le diagnostic de la Covid-19 a été établi pour 22 patients (35 %). L'insuffisance VG (15 [38 %] vs 2 [9 %] ; p = 0,016) et celle VD (12 [30 %] vs 1 [5 %] ; p = 0,018) étaient plus souvent observées dans le groupe témoin que chez les patients ayant une pneumopathie à Covid-19. Inversement, les patients Covid-19 avaient plus fréquemment un profil hémodynamique normal ou une hypovolémie associée ou non à une vasoplégie (20 [91 %] vs 21 [53 %] ; p = 0,002). La mortalité intrahospitalière était de 18 % ( n = 11). Tous les patients atteints de la Covid-19 présentant une insuffisance VG et/ou VD précoce sont décédés pendant leur hospitalisation.

Conclusions : La dysfonction VG et celle VD étaient plus fréquentes chez les patients non atteints de la Covid-19, alors que les patients atteints de Covid-19 avaient un phénotype cardiovasculaire normal ou hypovolémique.