Cardiac Injury Common in COVID-19, Predicts Mortality

[Poli]

In an observational study from Wuhan, China, cardiac injury was seen in 19.7% of patients with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. Mortality among patients with cardiac injury was 51.2%, compared with 4.5% among those without cardiac injury (P < .001). In a Cox regression model, patients with cardiac injury (vs without) had more than a fourfold increased risk for death during the time from symptom onset to death (hazard ratio, 4.26; 95% CI, 1.92 - 9.49). Cardiac injury was defined as blood levels of high-sensitivity troponin I (hs-TnI) above the 99th-percentile upper reference limit, regardless of new abnormalities in electrocardiography and echocardiography.

[Gilli]

@poli A few words of caution though: this study was done on patients who were admitted for hospitalization and may not apply to all patients who are tested as COVID-19-positive. Also, patients with myocardial injury had multiorgan failure, so involvement of the myocardium may not be specific but could be part of the diffuseness of the disease that also involved the heart