Effects of the pre-existing coronary heart disease on the prognosis of COVID-19 patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Comorbidities and Severe COVID-19 Outcomes: A Retrospective Analysis of Hospitalized Patients in Three Counties in Romania

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major global health crisis, with clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic infection to fatal outcomes. While all individuals are susceptible, specific populations, particularly those with pre-existing medical conditions, face a heightened risk of severe disease. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of severe COVID-19 among hospitalized patients with comorbidities in the Central Region of Romania, and to analyze the association between these conditions and mortality. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the Corona Forms platform (2020-2022), encompassing hospitalized cases across three Romanian counties. A total of 1458 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and documented comorbidities were included. Demographic characteristics, comorbid conditions, and hospitalization outcomes were analyzed. The overall mortality rate among comorbid patients was 89.3%. Renal, neurologic, hepatic disease, cardiovascular conditions, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cerebrovascular accidents are significant risk factors for death outcomes in the SARS-CoV-2-infected study population. The strength of their association varies, with odds ratios ranging from 25.32 to 1. The findings underscore the critical impact of comorbidities on COVID-19 severity and mortality among the Central Romanian population, emphasizing the necessity of targeted clinical interventions and public health strategies to protect high-risk populations.

2025 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: A Report of US and Global Data From the American Heart Association

BACKGROUND

The American Heart Association (AHA), in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, annually reports the most up-to-date statistics related to heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular risk factors, including core health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, nutrition, sleep, and obesity) and health factors (cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose control, and metabolic syndrome) that contribute to cardiovascular health. The AHA Heart Disease and Stroke Statistical Update presents the latest data on a range of major clinical heart and circulatory disease conditions (including stroke, brain health, complications of pregnancy, kidney disease, congenital heart disease, rhythm disorders, sudden cardiac arrest, subclinical atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, valvular disease, venous thromboembolism, and peripheral artery disease) and the associated outcomes (including quality of care, procedures, and economic costs).

METHODS

The AHA, through its Epidemiology and Prevention Statistics Committee, continuously monitors and evaluates sources of data on heart disease and stroke in the United States and globally to provide the most current information available in the annual Statistical Update with review of published literature through the year before writing. The 2025 AHA Statistical Update is the product of a full year's worth of effort in 2024 by dedicated volunteer clinicians and scientists, committed government professionals, and AHA staff members. This year's edition includes a continued focus on health equity across several key domains and enhanced global data that reflect improved methods and incorporation of ≈3000 new data sources since last year's Statistical Update.

RESULTS

Each of the chapters in the Statistical Update focuses on a different topic related to heart disease and stroke statistics.

CONCLUSIONS

The Statistical Update represents a critical resource for the lay public, policymakers, media professionals, clinicians, health care administrators, researchers, health advocates, and others seeking the best available data on these factors and conditions.

Recent advancements in traditional Chinese medicine for COVID-19 with comorbidities across various systems: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has developed a rich theoretical system and practical experience in fighting to infectious diseases over the past thousands of years, and has played an important role in controlling the spread owing to its unique advantages. In particular, its significant contribution to the prevention and control of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is widely recognized. COVID-19 infection is mainly non-severe with a favorable overall outcome, but patients with comorbidities tend to have a poor prognosis. However, a comprehensive review of TCM for preventing and treating COVID-19 with comorbidities across various systems is still lacking. Hence, this scoping review aims to conduct a comprehensive investigation on treatment outcome of TCM for treating COVID-19 with comorbidities across various systems.

METHODS

The scoping review was conducted by searching English databases including PubMed and Web of Science, and Chinese databases including China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang between January 2020 and January 2024. We followed the inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify relevant literature. Information for inclusion in the literature were subsequently extracted and consolidated.

RESULTS

We enrolled 13 literature that met the inclusion criteria in the review finally. Our analysis revealed that research on COVID-19 with comorbidities was mostly focused on circulatory diseases, including hypertension, heart failure, and cerebrovascular diseases, most common comorbidities were hypertension. Followed by endocrine and metabolic diseases such as diabetes, respiratory diseases including pulmonary tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been also addressed. However, there were few studies on co-infectious urogenital system disease, and no studies on the rheumatic, immune, hematological, nervous, reproductive, and skin systems diseases. Based on existing studies, TCM has significantly improved the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 with comorbidities such as fever, fatigue, dry cough, anorexia and asthma, the absorption of lung lesions, shortened the duration of viral shedding and the course of disease.

CONCLUSIONS

TCM has great application prospects in treating COVID-19 with comorbidities. These findings could provide important evidence for clinicians to treat COVID-19 with comorbidities. Multi-center studies are required to confirm our results in the future.

High frequencies of alpha common cold coronavirus/SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive functional CD4+ and CD8+ memory T cells are associated with protection from symptomatic and fatal SARS-CoV-2 infections in unvaccinated COVID-19 patients

Background

Cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2-specific memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are present in up to 50% of unexposed, pre-pandemic, healthy individuals (UPPHIs). However, the characteristics of cross-reactive memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells associated with subsequent protection of asymptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients (i.e., unvaccinated individuals who never develop any COVID-19 symptoms despite being infected with SARS-CoV-2) remains to be fully elucidated.

Methods

This study compares the antigen specificity, frequency, phenotype, and function of cross-reactive memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells between common cold coronaviruses (CCCs) and SARS-CoV-2. T-cell responses against genome-wide conserved epitopes were studied early in the disease course in a cohort of 147 unvaccinated COVID-19 patients who were divided into six groups based on the severity of their symptoms.

Results

Compared to severely ill COVID-19 patients and patients with fatal COVID-19 outcomes, the asymptomatic COVID-19 patients displayed significantly: (i) higher rates of co-infection with the 229E alpha species of CCCs (α-CCC-229E); (ii) higher frequencies of cross-reactive functional CD134+CD137+CD4+ and CD134+CD137+CD8+ T cells that cross-recognized conserved epitopes from α-CCCs and SARS-CoV-2 structural, non-structural, and accessory proteins; and (iii) lower frequencies of CCCs/SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive exhausted PD-1+TIM3+TIGIT+CTLA4+CD4+ and PD-1+TIM3+TIGIT+CTLA4+CD8+ T cells, detected both ex vivo and in vitro.

Conclusions

These findings (i) support a crucial role of functional, poly-antigenic α-CCCs/SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, induced following previous CCCs seasonal exposures, in protection against subsequent severe COVID-19 disease and (ii) provide critical insights into developing broadly protective, multi-antigen, CD4+, and CD8+ T-cell-based, universal pan-Coronavirus vaccines capable of conferring cross-species protection.