Genetic Predisposition to Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Relation to Ten Cardiovascular Conditions: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

BACKGROUND: The long-term health consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain largely unclear. This study aimed to apply the Mendelian randomization (MR) design to estimate the causal associations between COVID-19 and ten cardiovascular conditions. METHODS: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with COVID-19 were used as instrumental variables to estimate the causal effect of COVID-19 on ten cardiovascular conditions. The random-effects inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was conducted for the main analyses with a complementary analysis of the weighted median and MR-Egger approaches. RESULTS: In the IVW analysis, genetically predicted COVID-19 was suggestively associated with major coronary heart disease events (OR 1.081; 95% CI 1.007-1.16; P = 0.045) and heart failure (OR 1.049; 95% CI 1.001-1.1; P = 0.045) with similar estimates in weighted median regressions. No directional pleiotropic effects were observed in both funnel plots and MR-Egger intercepts. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide direct evidence that patients infected with COVID-19 are causally associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, especially for major coronary heart disease events and heart failure.

Rheumatology Patient Satisfaction With Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

The spread of COVID-19 in the United States has led to the use of virtual visits in lieu of in-person care for the high-risk population of patients in rheumatology. We asked patients to score their satisfaction with these visits and if they would have preferred in-person care instead. Of 679 patients seen in May 2020, 512 (75.4%) were virtual (267 [52.1%] by telephone and 245 [47.9%] by video), and 359 (70%) responded to the survey. The majority of patients (74%) were satisfied with their virtual visit, but they were more likely to be satisfied if their visit was over video rather than phone. They preferred an in-person visit if they were meeting a doctor for the first time, and patients who required a language interpreter were significantly less satisfied with virtual care. There was no correlation of age, sex, diagnosis, or testing ordered with satisfaction. The main concern against virtual care was the inability to have a physical exam, while the main reasons in favor of it were avoidance of potential infection and convenience.