ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine frequency of myocarditis in COVID-19 patients. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology-National Institute of Heart Diseases (AFIC-NIHD), Rawalpindi and Pak Emirates Military Hospital (PEMH), Rawalpindi, from Dec 2020 to May 2021. Methodology: A total of 143 hospitalized patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 infection via RT-PCR were included in the study. Patients with pre-existing cardiac conditions were excluded. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography and their ejection fractions were recorded. Meticulous testing for the inflammatory markers including CRP, serum ferritin, procalcitonin and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and cardiac biomarker (NT-pro-BNP) was carried out. The data was recorded on a specially designed questionnaire and later transferred to SPSS-23 for analysis. Myocarditis was diagnosed on the basis of reduced Ejection Fraction or raised NT pro BNP or both in a person without any known cardiac pathologies before getting COVID-19. Results: Out of total 143 COVID-19 patients included in the study, 24 patients (16.8%) developed myocarditis. The frequency of myocarditis in COVID-19 positive male population was 14.6% (10.5% of all myocarditis cases) and that of female population was 22.5% (6.3% of all myocarditis cases). The raised pro-inflammatory markers IL-6 and CRP were significantly associated with development of myocarditis while ferritin was not significantly associated. Only 28% of the study population recovered and got discharged from the hospital, however, there were no survivors among those who developed myocarditis. Conclusion: Myocarditis is a serious complication of COVID-19 and directly linked to increased mortality risk. There is an increasing need to perform serial assays for the inflammatory as well as cardiac biomarkers including IL-6, Trop-I and NT-pro-BNP for early detection and prompt treatment of this not so uncommon complication. © 2021, Army Medical College. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus causes extremely contagious infection and currently is a major threat for the public health globally. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current level of awareness towards Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) among Pakistani residents, their attitude, practices and psychological impact towards COVID-19 those contribute in an important way to control this pandemic. Methods: A cross sectional online study was conducted. A self-developed online questionnaire was made by Google forms and sent to the author's network with local residents in Pakistan. The questionnaire contained 35 questions among which 6 questions were related with the demographic features, 14 questions assess knowledge of participants, 4 questions evaluate the attitude, 7 questions assess the practices of the participants towards COVID-19 and 4 questions assess the psychological impact towards COVID-19. Results: Among the participants (n=528) 66.7% were female and 33.3% were male. Among them 49.8% of the participants were from the age group of 18-24 and the percentage of students was higher i.e. 39.8%. The overall range for correct answers for the knowledge questionnaire was 97.5%-46.8%, for attitude 75.2%-91.9% and for practices 39%-95%. 79% of the participants were confident that Pakistan will overcome the disaster situation of COVID-19. Conclusion: The findings of the current study indicated that Knowledge among the Pakistani residents about COVID-19 was found satisfactory. A significant number of the participants still lacking confidence when compared with the other countries. However, to effectively control the infection spread and improving COVID- 19 knowledge the well-structured awareness programs must be launched by the government those could be helpful for Pakistani residents to hold optimistic attitudes and maintain appropriate practices. © 2021 Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology. All right reserved.