The Cardiac Implications Of COVID-19 Just reviewed the attached, it certainly highlights very well the issues of Cardiovascular disease and COVID-19.
After reviewing it, you can certainly appreciate the work CRDL is doing to try and reduce the impact of COVID. Hopefully the FDA approvals are forthcoming thereby indicating a very positive treatment for COVID patients who have Cardiovascular issues.
A worthwhile read IMO....
Although COVID19 is primarily a respiratory condition, many patients may suffer from cardiovascular consequences which range from arrhythmia to heart failure, especially in those with preexisting cardiovascular diseases and advanced age. Understanding the mechanisms behind why cardiovascular consequences are higher in COVID19 compared to flu is important in bettering our understanding of the disease and how to treat it effectively.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) infection typically results in either asymptomatic or mildmoderate COVID19 severity in the vast majority of people. However, in specific age groups (especially those over 65) and those with preexisting health conditions (including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, etc), the risk of severe disease is much higher and can require intensive care unit admission in hospital, or in some cases death.
By Dr. Osman Shabir, PhD Reviewed by Sophia Coveney, B.Sc.
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The Cardiac Implications of COVID-19
Cardiovascular/cardiac implications in COVID19
In severe disease, multiorgan system failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can lead to death. At the center of the most severe clinical manifestation of COVID19 is the presence of substantially elevated cytokines (cytokinerelease syndrome) which include granulocyte colonystimulating factor (GCSF), interferoninducible protein 10, macrophage inflammatory protein1A and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha. In addition, those who have myocardial injury also show substantially elevated interleukin6 (IL6) levels, suggesting the severity of disease corresponds to the levels of circulating cytokines.
As discussed, the severity of the disease may be related to the levels of cytokines circulating in patients which can lead to an array of multiorgan damage, including to the heart and cardiovascular system. Specifically, cytokines acting on the heart can lead to stress cardiomyopathy and/or cytokinerelated myocardial dysfunction in the most severe cases of COVID 19.
A key component that is implicated in cardiovascular dysfunction in COVID19 is the reninaldosteroneangiotensin system (RAAS). SARSCoV2 binds to ACE2 receptors in the body which in turn leads to a downregulation of ACE2 receptors. This downregulation of ACE2 can lead to decreased rates of the conversion of angiotensin II (ATII) to angiotensin I (ATI) which leads to elevated levels of ATII that can have a direct effect on the cardiovascular system such as increased sympathetic activity, vasoconstriction, aldosterone secretion (causing renal sodium and water reabsorption), pulmonary vascular permeability, and fibrosis.
COVID19 in patients with cardiovascular disease
One of the biggest risk factors for severe COVID19 and fatality from COVID 19 is cardiovascular disease comorbidity. For example, out of nearly 45,000 patients in China (casefatality rate of 2.3%), the highest mortality rates were in patients with cardiovascular disease (10.5%), followed by diabetes (7.3%) and hypertension (6%), and these effects were similarly observed in Italy.
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The Cardiac Implications of COVID-19
A majority of patients with cardiovascular disease tend to be older (over the age of 65), where most of the deaths from COVID19 occur. Furthermore, 2 or more comorbidities are usually present in many patients with cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and diabetes which increase the risk of severe disease and death substantially, combined with advanced age. Patients with heart failure and diseases such as ischaemic heart disease may suffer from potentially severe and devastating cardiac implications with COVID19.
The causes of mortality in hospitalized COVID19 patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease can be attributed to several different factors, including those mentioned previously. Several studies have shown that elevated troponin levels are associated with severe disease and mortality from COVID 19. Elevated troponin levels are associated with myocarditis, systemic infection and cytokine storm, arrhythmias and ischemia. Thus, troponin and cytokine measurements may serve to be crucial prognostic markers in disease outcomes.
Patients with preexisting cardiovascular diseases (especially heart failure) are at an increased risk of severe disease and mortality from COVID19 (especially older patients), but COVID19 may also cause the development of new cardiovascular implications (including cardiomyopathy/myocarditis) in patients without preexisting cardiovascular diseases.
These may be related to cytokine storm levels causing systemic damage (severe disease), or perhaps even direct SARSCoV2 infection of cardiac tissues. Whilst this is rare in healthy younger individuals, older patients with other comorbidities may be at an increased risk of developing new cardiac implications from COVID19.
For example, patients with COVID19 have a higher incidence of arrhythmias such as longQT syndrome and torsades des pointes (found in many COVID 19 patients who die) which may be caused by metabolic abnormalities including cytokine storms, hypoxemia and acidosis. Many of these patients also have elevated troponin levels, thus serum measurements of troponin and other cytokines are an excellent prognostic tool in patients with severe COVID19, and for assessment of cardiac conditions such as myocarditis.
Management of preexisting comorbidities (health conditions) such as the
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The Cardiac Implications of COVID-19
aggressive treatment of heart failure, cardiac and cardiovascular diseases is important in reducing the risk of severe COVID19 complications and mortality. These include antiarrhythmics (for arrhythmias/atrial fibrillation/tachycardia), vasopressors/diuretics (heart failure/cardiogenic shock), statins/heparin/betablockers (coronary syndromes) and thrombolysis (in pulmonary embolism).
Flu vs COVID19
Compared to flu, COVID19 has a higher case mortality rate (CMR) in addition to a higher prevalence of complications in COVID19 compared to flu, especially in patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease. However, this information must be taken with caution as testing for seasonal flu and reporting to health authorities is done in a limited way compared to COVID19 and different health authorities have different ways of reporting death from both diseases.
Despite that, many countries have used these statistical parameters to compare between COVID19 and flu. In China, official statistics place COVID 19 to have almost 15 times higher CMR compared to flu. Furthermore, deaths in patients with cardiac abnormalities/cardiovascular diseases and COVID19 are substantially higher than the same existing comorbidities in flu. It is important to note that cardiac diseases predispose more severe disease and risk of death (primarily from myocarditis) in both flu and COVID19, but the rates are higher in COVID19 compared to flu.
Summary
In summary, people with preexisting cardiovascular and cardiac diseases are at an increased risk of more severe disease and mortality from COVID19 as they would be from flu also. However, compared to flu, COVID19 has a higher death rate for patients with cardiovascular diseases.
Such patients should be very cautious in preventing getting infected (e.g., shielding), and should ensure they stay on top of medications and treatments, especially in the context of heart failure. Cytokine storms and troponin levels may be important pathological and prognostic markers in severe COVID19 and could serve to be important treatment targets.
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The Cardiac Implications of COVID-19
References
Nishiga et al, 2020. COVID19 and cardiovascular disease: from basic mechanisms to clinical perspectives. Nat Rev Cardiol. 17(9):543558. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32690910/
Ranard et al, 2020. Approach to Acute Cardiovascular Complications in COVID19 Infection. Circ Heart Fail. 13(7):e007220. https://pu bmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32500721/
Thakkar et al, 2020. Cardiovascular Implications of COVID19 Infections. Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J. 16(2):146154. https://pubmed.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/32670475/
Boukris et al, 2020. Cardiovascular Implications of the COVID19 Pandemic: A Global Perspective. Can J Cardiol. 36(7):10681080. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32425328/
Khan et al, 2020. Cardiovascular implications of COVID19 versus influenza infection: a review. BMC Med. 18(1):403. https://pubmed.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/33334360/
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Last Updated: Mar 3, 2021
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The Cardiac Implications of COVID-19
Written by
Dr. Osman Shabir
Osman is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sheffield studying the impact of cardiovascular disease (atherosclerosis) on neurovascular function in vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease using preclinical models and neuroimaging techniques. He is based in the Department of Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Disease in the Faculty of Medicine at Sheffield.
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