COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease

Abstract

In December 2019, in Wuhan in the province of Hubei in China, there was a report on a group of 27 patients with a pneumonia of unknown origin, linked to exposure in a market with shellfish, fish, and live animals. In January 2020, a new strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was isolated in these patients. The disease caused by this virus has been given the name of COVID-19. During the initial stages of the pandemic, and given the scarcity of studies published about this, it was believed that this coronavirus only caused respiratory symptoms. However, as the number of patients increased, it was observed that cardiovascular disease had a fundamental role in the development and prognosis of the infection. The most important risk factors associated with mortality are age and the presence of comorbidities, particularly cardiovascular ones. The increase in the levels of troponin, natriuretic peptides, and D-dimer are of prognostic values in patients with an infection due to SARS-CoV-2. Patients with COVID-19 have an increased risk of acute myocardial infarction, myocarditis, heart failure, shock, arrhythmias, and sudden death, in relation to the systematic response to the virus and to the treatments needed in the acute phase. A review is presented in this article of the cardiovascular involvement due to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).