Right ventricular dilation and mortality in acute covid-19

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Myocardial injury is associated with COVID-19 mortality, but the prognostic value of adverse right ventricular (RV) remodeling on transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) is uncertain. Therefore we studied the association between RV dilation and in-hospital mortality in acute COVID19. Methods: We included all adults hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 2020 and February 2021 who had a clinical TTE performed during hospitalization at UCSF Health (Parnassus, Mission Bay, or Mount Zion) or Zuckerberg San Francisco General. Clinical and echo data were extracted from the electronic medical record. Biomarkers (BNP & troponin) were log transformed. The primary exposure was qualitative assessment of RV dilation on TTE and the primary outcome was inhospital mortality. We conducted analysis with STATA MP 16.1 using logistic regression models with adjustment for age and sex (Model 1) and age, sex, log(BNP), log(troponin), and mechanical ventilation (Model 2) and compared models with and without RV size with the likelihood ratio test. Results: There were 225 people hospitalized with COVID-19 who had a clinical TTE performed. The mean age was 62.9 years old, 77 (34%) were female, and 48 (21%) died. The majority of patients identified as Latinx (40%), and most patients received Medicaid (58%). Of 212 TTEs adequate to assess RV size, 47 (22%) had RV dilation of whom 16 (34%) died compared to 31 (19%) with normal RV size (RR 1.81, 95%CI 1.09-3.01, p=0.03). Of 185 TTEs adequate to assess RV function, 18 (10%) had RV dysfunction of whom 6 (33%) died compared to 12 (18%) with normal RV function (RR 1.86, 95%CI 0.89-3.84, p=0.12). There were no differences in tricuspid annulus plane systolic excursion or RV systolic excursion velocity. Adjusted for age and sex, RV dilation was associated with mortality (OR 2.16, 95%CI 1.02-4.58;p=0.045), with a larger effect among those with RV dilation and dysfunction (OR 3.40, 95% CI 0.93-12.4, p=0.063). This effect was attenuated after adjusting for BNP, troponin and mechanical ventilation at the time of TTE (OR 1.61, 95%CI 0.52-4.98, p=0.41). Conclusions: RV dilation on TTE is associated with mortality in acute COVID-19, although the effect is attenuated after accounting for mechanical ventilation and biomarkers.