Review of cardiovascular involvements in COVID-19

Background: A spectrum of cardiovascular pathologies occurs in patients with COVID-19 and increases the risk of mortality. Risk of mortality is also heightened in cardiovascular disease patients who contact COVID-19. Methodology: Online search for the keywords in PubMed, Medline, Embase, Google scholar was done. Relevant research articles yielded from the searches were reviewed. Results: the searches yielded a total of 172 results, out of which 111 were reviewed. Cardiac involvement was found in 70.6% COVID-19 patients: tachycardia (19%), electrocardiography abnormalities (22%), echocardiography abnormalities (57%), elevated myocardial enzymes (53%), and acute cardiac injury (9%). Eight percent of patients with acute cardiac injury were aged >60 years; 87.5% of them had ≥2 underlying comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic kidney disease). Novel coronavirus pneumonia was much more severe in the patients with acute cardiac injury than in patients with non-definite acute cardiac injury (P<0.001). Multivariate analyses showed that C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, old age, novel coronavirus pneumonia severity, and underlying comorbidities were the risk factors for cardiac abnormalities in patients with COVID-19. Conclusion: Besides its prominent expression at the level of the respiratory apparatus, COVID-19 is also characterized by a substantial degree of cardiovascular involvement, both in terms of deterioration of pre-existing conditions, and as the effect of inflammation-facilitated acute events. They include ischemic and inflammatory heart disease, ventricular arrhythmias, conduction disturbances, thrombotic events at the level of the lungs, systemic activation of the coagulation cascade and disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Haematoxic Effects Following Ingestion Of Nigerian Crude Oil And Crude Oil Polluted Shellfish By Rats

The haematological effects following ingestion of shellfish exposed to crude oil polluted water or the pollutant perse were investigated in albino Wistar rats. Feeding of four groups of rats for 28 days duration with two reference casein or shellfish protein control diets (Group A and B); and two test diets (Group C and D) supplemented at varying levels with shellfish which had been previously exposed to crude oil polluted water and the oral gavaging with crude oil at the rate of 3; 6 and 9 ml/kg body weight per day to three groups (groups II; III and IV respectively) of rats for 7 days duration resulted in changes in packed cell volume (PCV); red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) counts; and haemoglobin concentration (Hb) of rats. Group C and D respectively fed 10 and 20 polluted shellfish diets recorded significant (P 0.05) decreases in PCV and RBC counts while Hb concentration and WBC counts increased. Groups II; III and IV gavaged with varying doses of crude oil recorded significant (P 0.05 - 0.01) dose dependent decrease in PCV and RBC counts when compared to controls (group 1). Hb and WBC counts also increased for these groups but the increase was only significant for WBC counts (P 0.05) when compared with controls. The results suggest that the ingestion of shellfish exposed to crude oil polluted water or the polluted perse results in haematotoxicity