Prevalence and clinical outcomes of cardiac injury in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Vitamin D level in COVID-19 patients has positive correlations with autophagy and negative correlations with disease severity

Background and Objectives

There is still incomplete understanding of the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Calcitriol, the main form of vitamin D in serum, regulates immune responses and increases resistance to pathogens, but the mechanism by which it protects against COVID-19 is uncertain. Autophagy has antiviral effects and helps to maintain homeostasis, but its specific role in COVID-19 is also uncertain. Both vitamin D and autophagy have important functions in the lung microenvironment. This study examined the relationship of serum vitamin D and autophagy-related proteins in patients with COVID-19 and evaluated their potential use as biomarkers.

Methods

Blood samples from COVID-19 patients at the Second Hospital of Jilin University were collected. The levels of vitamin D, autophagy-related proteins (Becline 1 [BECN1] and autophagy-related 7 [ATG7]), and inflammatory markers (TNF-α and IL-1β) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

Results

We examined 25 patients with mild/moderate COVID-19 and 27 patients with severe/critical COVID-19. The group with severe/critical COVID-19 had more abnormalities in many laboratory indicators, including lower levels of autophagy markers (BECN1 and ATG7) and vitamin D, and higher levels of inflammatory markers (TNF-α and IL-1β). Partial correlation analysis showed that vitamin D had strong positive correlations with ATG7 (r = 0.819, p < 0.001) and BECN1 (r = 0.900, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our results demonstrated that the vitamin D level had significant negative correlations with COVID-19 severity and strong positive correlations with autophagy. These findings enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of COVID-19, and provide a theoretical basis for clinical interventions that target autophagy and vitamin D.

Gastrointestinal Tract and Kidney Injury Pathogenesis in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

COVID-19 is a global health emergency that requires worldwide collaboration to control its spread. The scientific community is working to understand the different aspects of the post-COVID-19 syndrome and potential treatment strategies. Interestingly, there have been reports of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) involvement in the post-COVID-19 syndrome, suggesting the presence of both severe and mild GIT disorders. The development of the post-COVID-19- GIT syndrome involves various factors, such as impaired GIT mucosa cells, disruptions in the feeling of satiety, reduced blood supply due to the formation of small blood clots, and increased prostaglandin secretion caused by an excessive immune response. GIT symptoms have been observed in around 16% of COVID-19 patients. Other complications include kidney damage and prolonged impairment in the filtration and excretion functions of the glomeruli and tubules. The pathogenesis of post-COVID-19 renal syndrome involves factors, like an overactive immune response, reduced lung perfusion and oxygenation, viral infection in kidney tissues, endothelial dysfunction, and decreased blood volume. Roughly 20% of hospitalized patients experience renal manifestations after recovering from COVID-19.

The Association between Acute Cardiac Injury and Outcomes of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: Long-Term Follow-up Results from the Sina Hospital COVID-19 Registry, Iran

Background

The present study aimed to investigate the association between acute cardiac injury (ACI) and outcomes in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iran.

Methods

The current cohort study enrolled all consecutive hospitalized patients with COVID-19 (≥ 18 y) who had serum high-sensitivity cardiac troponin-I (hs-cTnT) measurements on admission between March 2020 and March 2021. ACI was determined as hs-cTnT levels exceeding the 99th percentile of normal values. Data on demographics, comorbidities, clinical and laboratory characteristics, and outcomes were collected from Web-based electronic health records.

Results

The study population consisted of 1413 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, of whom 319 patients (22.58%) presented with ACI. The patients with ACI had a significantly higher mortality rate than those without ACI (48.28% vs 15.63%; P<0.001) within a mean follow-up of 218.86 days from symptom onset. ACI on admission was independently associated with mortality (HR, 1.44; P=0.018). In multivariable logistic regression, age (OR, 1.034; P<0.001), preexisting cardiac disease (OR, 1.49; P=0.035), preexisting malignancy (OR, 2.01; P=0.030), oxygen saturation reduced to less than 90% (OR, 2.15; P<0.001), leukocytosis (OR, 1.45; P=0.043), lymphopenia (OR, 1.49; P=0.020), reduced estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFRs) (OR, 0.99; P=0.008), and treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin during hospitalization (OR, 4.03; P=0.006) were independently associated with ACI development.

Conclusion

ACI occurrence on admission was associated with long-term mortality in our hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The finding further underscores the significance of evaluating ACI occurrence on admission, particularly in individuals more prone to ACI, including older individuals and those with preexisting comorbidities, reduced oxygen saturation, and increased inflammatory responses.

Two-stage one-pot synthetic strategy for the key triazone-triazole intermediate of ensitrelvir (S-217622), an oral clinical candidate for treating COVID-19

Herein, the preparation of the key triazone-triazole intermediate of ensitrelvir (S-217622) via sequential cyclization and alkylation reaction is described. Firstly, chloromethyl triazole was synthesized through a one-pot tandem process (condensation and cyclization reaction) from commercially available chloroacetamide in a 72% yield. Then, the key triazone-triazole intermediate was obtained in a second one-pot process by N-alkylation with triazone followed by highly selective N 1-methylation with iodomethane in a 54% yield. In addition, two of the main process impurities were synthesized and identified. This novel alternative two-stage one-pot strategy for synthesizing the key triazone-triazole intermediate opens a new avenue for further research and development of ensitrelvir analogs.

The Management of Myocardial Injury Related to SARS-CoV-2 Pneumonia

The global evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is known to all. The diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia is expected to worsen, and mortality will be higher when combined with myocardial injury (MI). The combination of novel coronavirus infections in patients with MI can cause confusion in diagnosis and assessment, with each condition exacerbating the other, and increasing the complexity and difficulty of treatment. It would be a formidable challenge for clinical practice to deal with this situation. Therefore, this review aims to gather literature on the progress in managing MI related to SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. This article reviews the definition, pathogenesis, clinical evaluation, management, and treatment plan for MI related to SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia based on the most recent literature, diagnosis, and treatment trial reports. Many studies have shown that early diagnosis and implementation of targeted treatment measures according to the different stages of disease can reduce the mortality rate among patients with MI related to SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. The reviewed studies show that multiple strategies have been adopted for the management of MI related to COVID-19. Clinicians should closely monitor SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia patients with MI, as their condition can rapidly deteriorate and progress to heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and/or cardiogenic shock. In addition, appropriate measures need to be implemented in the diagnosis and treatment to provide reasonable care to the patient.

The use of cardiac troponins and B-type natriuretic peptide in COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still challenging health care systems worldwide. Over time, it has become clear that respiratory disease is not the only important entity as critically ill patients are also more prone to develop complications, such as acute cardiac injury. Despite extensive research, the mainstay of treatment still relies on supportive care and targeted therapy of these complications. The development of a prognostic model which helps clinicians to diverge patients to an appropriate level of care is thus crucial. As a result, several prognostic markers have been studied in the past few months. Among them are the cardiac biomarkers, especially cardiac troponins T/I and brain natriuretic peptide, which seem to have important prognostic values as several reports have confirmed their strong association with adverse clinical outcomes and death. The use of these biomarkers as part of a prognostic tool could potentially result in more precise risk stratification of COVID-19 patients and divergence to an adequate level of care. However, several caveats persist causing international guidelines to still recommend in favour of a more conservative approach to cardiac biomarker testing for prognostic purposes.

Recent Progresses in Electrochemical DNA Biosensors for SARS-CoV-2 Detection

Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is still a major public health concern in many nations today. COVID-19 transmission is now controlled mostly through early discovery, isolation, and therapy. Because of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the contributing factor to COVID-19, establishing timely, sensitive, accurate, simple, and budget detection technologies for the SARS-CoV-2 is urgent for epidemic prevention. Recently, several electrochemical DNA biosensors have been developed for the rapid monitoring and detection of SARS-CoV-2. This mini-review examines the latest improvements in the detection of SARS-COV-2 utilizing electrochemical DNA biosensors. Meanwhile, this mini-review summarizes the problems faced by the existing assays and puts an outlook on future trends in the development of new assays for SARS-CoV-2, to provide researchers with a borrowing role in the generation of different assays.

The Role of Biomarkers in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients With Systemic Manifestations

The following article aims to review COVID-19 biomarkers used in hospital practice. It is apparent that COVID-19 is not simply a pulmonary disease but has systemic manifestations. For this reason, biomarkers must be used in the management of diagnosed patients to provide holistic care. Patients with COVID-19 have been shown to have pulmonary, hepatobiliary, cardiovascular, neurologic, and renal injury, along with coagulopathy and a distinct cytokine storm. Biomarkers can effectively inform clinicians of systemic organ injury due to COVID-19. Furthermore, biomarkers can be used in predictive models for severe COVID-19 in admitted patients. The utility of doing so is to allow for risk stratification and utilization of proper treatment protocols. In addition, COVID-19 biomarkers in the pediatric population are discussed, specifically in predicting Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome. Ultimately, biomarkers can be used as predictive tools to allow clinicians to identify and adequately manage patients at increased risk for worse outcomes from COVID-19. Both literature review and anecdotal evidence has shown that severe COVID-19 is a systemic disease, and understanding associated biomarkers are crucial for hospitalized patients’ proper clinical decision-making. For example, the cytokine storm releases inflammatory markers in different organ systems such as the pulmonary, hepatobiliary, hematological, cardiac, neurological, and renal systems. This review summarizes the latest research of COVID-19 that can help inform healthcare professionals how to better mitigate morbidity and mortality associated with this disease and provides information about certain systemic biomarkers that can be incorporated into hospital practice to provide more comprehensive care for hospitalized COIVD-19 patients.

Characteristic Immune Dynamics in COVID-19 Patients with Cardiac Dysfunction

Background: We aimed to explore immune parameters in COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) to identify distinctive features in patients with cardiac injury. Methods: A total of 30 COVID-19 patients >18 years admitted to the ICU were studied on days D1, D3 and D7 after admission. Cardiac function was assessed using speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE). Peripheral blood immunophenotyping, cardiac (pro-BNP; troponin) and inflammatory biomarkers were simultaneously evaluated. Results: Cardiac dysfunction (DYS) was detected by STE in 73% of patients: 40% left ventricle (LV) systolic dysfunction, 60% LV diastolic dysfunction, 37% right ventricle systolic dysfunction. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) was detectable in 43.3% of the patients with a median value of 13.00 ng/L. There were no significant differences between DYS and nDYS patients regarding mortality, organ dysfunction, cardiac (including hs-cTn) or inflammatory biomarkers. Patients with DYS showed persistently lower lymphocyte counts (median 896 [661−1837] cells/µL vs. 2141 [924−3306] cells/µL, p = 0.058), activated CD3 (median 85 [66−170] cells/µL vs. 186 [142−259] cells/µL, p = 0.047) and CD4 T cells (median 33 [28−40] cells/µL vs. 63 [48−79] cells/µL, p = 0.005), and higher effector memory T cells (TEM) at baseline (CD4%: 10.9 [6.4−19.2] vs. 5.9 [4.2−12.8], p = 0.025; CD8%: 15.7 [7.9−22.8] vs. 8.1 [7.7−13.7], p = 0.035; CD8 counts: 40 cells/µL [17−61] vs. 10 cells/µL [7−17], p = 0.011) than patients without cardiac dysfunction. Conclusion: Our study suggests an association between the immunological trait and cardiac dysfunction in severe COVID-19 patients.

Cardiovascular disturbances in COVID-19: an updated review of the pathophysiology and clinical evidence of cardiovascular damage induced by SARS-CoV-2

Severe acute respiratory coronavirus-2 (SARS-Co-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 is a disease with highly variable phenotypes, being asymptomatic in most patients. In symptomatic patients, disease manifestation is variable, ranging from mild disease to severe and critical illness requiring treatment in the intensive care unit. The presence of underlying cardiovascular morbidities was identified early in the evolution of the disease to be a critical determinant of the severe disease phenotype. SARS-CoV-2, though a primarily respiratory virus, also causes severe damage to the cardiovascular system, contributing significantly to morbidity and mortality seen in COVID-19. Evidence on the impact of cardiovascular disorders in disease manifestation and outcome of treatment is rapidly emerging. The cardiovascular system expresses the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2, the receptor used by SARS-CoV-2 for binding, making it vulnerable to infection by the virus. Systemic perturbations including the so-called cytokine storm also impact on the normal functioning of the cardiovascular system. Imaging plays a prominent role not only in the detection of cardiovascular damage induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection but in the follow-up of patients' clinical progress while on treatment and in identifying long-term sequelae of the disease.

Incidence of cardiac complications following COVID-19 infection: An umbrella meta-analysis study

Background

COVID-19 causes fatal cardiac damages. Despite many overwhelming meta-analysis related to cardiac complications following COVID-19 disease, no umbrella meta-analysis study has been conducted.

Objectives

We aimed to report the summarized pooled incidences of cardiac complications in the overall, critically ill, and deceased patients, compare the cardiac complications between the severe/non-severe or deceased/non-deceased patients, and also compare poor outcomes between patients with/without acute myocardial injury (AMI).

Methods

PubMed, Scopus, web of science, Cochrane, ProQuest, Springer, Sage journals were searched before April 2021. After assessing the quality and duplicate data, data were run by the random/fixed-effect models, I2 heterogeneity index, Egger's test, and sensitivity analysis.

Results

After removing duplicate data, in the overall COVID-19 patients, the pooled incidence of AMI, heart failure, arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were 21%, 14%, 16%, 3.46%, and 1.3%, respectively. In the patients with severe disease, the pooled incidence of AMI and shock were 33 and 35%, respectively. Similarly, in the deceased COVID-19 patients, the pooled incidence rate of AMI and arrhythmia were 56% and 47.5%, respectively. The patients with severe disease were at higher risk of AMI (RR = 5.27) and shock (OR = 20.18) compared with the non-severe cases. Incidence of AMI was associated with transfer to the intensive care units (ICU) (RR = 2.92) and mortality (RR = 2.57, OR = 8.36), significantly.

Conclusion

Cardiac complications were found to be increased alarmingly in COVID-19 patients. Baseline and during hospitalization checking with electrocardiography, echocardiography, and measuring of cardiac biomarkers should be applied.

Outcomes and Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Events in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

OBJECTIVE

To analyze outcomes and risk factors of cardiovascular events in a metropolitan coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) database, and to perform a subgroup analysis in African American populations to determine whether outcomes and risk factors are influenced by race.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort analysis from March 9, 2020 to June 20, 2020.

SETTING

Population-based study in Louisville, KY, USA.

PARTICIPANTS

Seven hundred adult inpatients hospitalized with COVID-19.

INTERVENTIONS

N/A.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

This cohort consisted of 126 patients (18%) with cardiovascular events and 574 patients without cardiovascular events. Patients with cardiovascular events had a much higher mortality rate than those without cardiovascular events (45.2% v 8.7%, p < 0.001). There was no difference between African American and white patients regarding mortality (43.9% v 46.3%, p = 1) and length of stay for survivors (11 days v 9.5 days, p = 0.301). Multiple logistics regression analysis suggested that male, race, lower SaO2/FIO2, higher serum potassium, lower serum albumin, and number of cardiovascular comorbidities were highly associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular events in COVID-19 patients. Lower serum albumin and neoplastic and/or immune-compromised diseases were highly associated with cardiovascular events for African American COVID-19 patients. SaO2/FIO2 ratio and cardiovascular comorbidity count were significantly associated with cardiovascular events in white patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Cardiovascular events were prevalent and associated with worse outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Outcomes of cardiovascular events in African American and white COVID-19 patients were similar after propensity score matching analysis. There were common and unique risk factors for cardiovascular events in African American COVID-19 patients when compared with white patients.

Distinct Coagulopathy With Myocardial Injury and Pulmonary Embolism in COVID-19

In this article, we report a case of a 61-year-old male who was diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), presenting with acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring intubation and hemodynamic support, marked D-Dimer and troponin I elevation, worsening ST-elevation myocardial infarction on repeat electrocardiograms, and a negative coronary angiogram ruling out a coronary artery thrombosis or occlusion. With worsening diffuse ST-segment elevation on electrocardiograms and reduced ejection fraction on echocardiography in the setting of systemic inflammation, fulminant myocarditis was highly suspected. Despite optimal medical treatment, the patient’s condition deteriorated and was complicated by cardiac arrest that failed resuscitation. Although myocarditis was initially suspected, the autopsy revealed no evidence of myocarditis or pericarditis but did demonstrate multiple microscopic sites of myocardial ischemia together with thrombi in the left atrium and pulmonary vasculature. Additionally, scattered microscopic cardiomyocyte necrosis with pathological diagnosis of small vessel micro-thrombotic occlusions. These findings are potentially exacerbated by inflammation-induced coagulopathy, hypoxia, hypotension, and stress, that is, a multifactorial etiology. Further research and an improved understanding are needed to define the precise pathophysiology of the coagulopathic state causing widespread micro-thrombosis with subsequent myocardial and pulmonary injury.