Long-term prognostic impact of subclinical myocardial dysfunction in patients recovered from COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular sequelae may occur in patients recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Recent studies have detected a considerable incidence of subclinical myocardial dysfunction-assessed with speckle-tracking echocardiography-and of long-COVID symptoms in these patients. This study aimed to define the long-term prognostic role of subclinical myocardial dysfunction and long-COVID condition in patients recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia. METHODS: We prospectively followed up 110 patients hospitalized at our institution due to COVID-19 pneumonia in April 2020 and then recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection. A 7-month clinical and echocardiographic evaluation was performed, followed by a 21-month clinical follow-up. The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure hospitalization, and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: A subclinical myocardial dysfunction-defined as an impairment of left ventricular global longitudinal strain (≥-18%)-was identified at a 7-month follow-up in 37 patients (34%), was associated with an increased risk of long-term MACE with a good discriminative power (area under the curve: .73) and resulted in a strong independent predictor of extended MACE in multivariate regression analyses. Long-COVID condition was not associated with a worse long-term prognosis, instead. CONCLUSIONS: In patients recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia, a subclinical myocardial dysfunction is present in one-third of the whole population at 7-month follow-up and is associated with a higher risk of MACE at long-term follow-up. Speckle-tracking echocardiography is a promising tool to optimize the risk-stratification in patients recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia, while the definition of a long-COVID condition has no prognostic relevance.

Incidence and characterization of acute pulmonary embolism in patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia: A multicenter Italian experience.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Several studies reported a high incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) among patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but detailed data about clinical characteristics, risk factors of these patients and prognostic role of PE are still lacking. We aim to evaluate the occurrence of pulmonary embolism among patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, and to describe their risk factors, clinical characteristics, and in-hospital clinical outcomes. METHODS: This is a multicenter Italian study including 333 consecutive SARS-CoV-2 patients admitted to seven hospitals from February 22 to May 15, 2020. All the patients underwent computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) for PE detection. In particular, CTPA was performed in case of inadequate response to high-flow oxygen therapy (Fi02≥0.4 to maintain Sp02≥92%), elevated D-dimer (>0.5µg/mL), or echocardiographic signs of right ventricular dysfunction. Clinical, laboratory and radiological data were also analyzed. RESULTS: Among 333 patients with laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and undergoing CTPA, PE was detected in 109 (33%) cases. At CTPA, subsegmental, segmental, lobar and central thrombi were detected in 31 (29%), 50 (46%), 20 (18%) and 8 (7%) cases, respectively. In-hospital death occurred in 29 (27%) patients in the PE-group and in 47 (21%) patients in the non-PE group (p = 0.25). Patients in PE-group had a low rate of traditional risk factors and deep vein thrombosis was detected in 29% of patients undergoing compression ultrasonography. In 71% of cases with documented PE, the thrombotic lesions were located in the correspondence of parenchymal consolidation areas. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a low rate of risk factors for venous thromboembolism, PE is present in about 1 out 3 patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia undergoing CTPA for inadequate response to oxygen therapy, elevated D-dimer level, or echocardiographic signs of right ventricular dysfunction. In most of the cases, the thromboses were located distally in the pulmonary tree and were mainly confined within pneumonia areas.

Risk factors for myocardial injury and death in patients with COVID-19: insights from a cohort study with chest computed tomography.

AIMS: Whether pulmonary artery (PA) dimension and coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, as assessed by chest computed tomography (CT), are associated with myocardial injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not known. The aim of this study was to explore the risk factors for myocardial injury and death and to investigate whether myocardial injury has an independent association with all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19. METHODS AND RESULTS: This is a single-centre cohort study including consecutive patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 undergoing chest CT on admission. Myocardial injury was defined as high-sensitivity troponin I >20 ng/L on admission. A total of 332 patients with a median follow-up of 12 days were included. There were 68 (20.5%) deaths; 123 (37%) patients had myocardial injury. PA diameter was higher in patients with myocardial injury compared with patients without myocardial injury [29.0 (25th-75th percentile, 27-32) mm vs. 27.7 (25-30) mm, P < 0.001). PA diameter was independently associated with an increased risk of myocardial injury [adjusted odds ratio 1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.19, P = 0.01] and death [adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.09, 95% CI 1.02-1.17, P = 0.01]. Compared with patients without myocardial injury, patients with myocardial injury had a lower prevalence of a CAC score of zero (25% vs. 55%, P < 0.001); however, the CAC score did not emerge as a predictor of myocardial injury by multivariable logistic regression. Myocardial injury was independently associated with an increased risk of death by multivariable Cox regression (adjusted HR 2.25, 95% CI 1.27-3.96, P = 0.005). Older age, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, and lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio on admission were other independent predictors for both myocardial injury and death. CONCLUSIONS: An increased PA diameter, as assessed by chest CT, is an independent risk factor for myocardial injury and mortality in patients with COVID-19. Myocardial injury is independently associated with an approximately two-fold increased risk of death.