Heart damage seen in 50% of people hospitalized with COVID-19

Patients with abnormal troponin levels were provided with an MRI scan of the heart after discharge. The results were compared with those from a control group of patients who did not have COVID-19 and 40 additional healthy volunteers.

Researchers investigated patients with COVID-19 who were discharged from treatment until June 2020 from six UK-based hospitals.

This study is the largest study of 148 people and the recovery of COVID-19 with elevated troponin levels. Elevated troponin indicates a possible heart problem.

“Troponin is basically a measure of myocardial damage.” Dr. Andrew M. FreemanA cardiologist at National Jewish Health, Colorado, told Healthline. “Therefore, when the heart muscle dies, such as due to a heart attack or significant inflammation, when the cardiomyocytes actually rupture for some reason, an enzyme called troponin is released.”

Freeman explained that when someone comes to the emergency room with chest pain, hospital staff often test the blood of troponin to see if there is a heart attack or heart muscle damage.

“Elevated troponin levels are associated with worse outcomes in COVID-19 patients.” Dr. Marianna Fontana, Co-Principal Investigator of Research at University College London and Professor of Cardiology, statement..

Severe COVID-19 infections can directly affect the heart, according to Fontana.

“It’s hard to tell how the heart can be damaged,” she continued. “But MRI scans of the heart can identify different patterns of damage, which can make a more accurate diagnosis and more effective treatment.”

the study Release JAMA Cardiology last July found that even people who experienced mild COVID-19 could have heart problems.

Researchers in this study used cardiac MRI to examine the hearts of 100 Germans who recovered from COVID-19.

Of these participants, 78 showed heart problems and 60 showed ongoing myocardial inflammation.

Studies have shown that findings were independent of the length of time after the initial diagnosis, pre-existing condition, or severity of the disease and overall course.

What makes it difficult to specifically correlate the findings with COVID-19 is that people with chronic illnesses, who are often associated with the heart, are at greatest risk of severe COVID. Fontana He said these conditions included diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

Dr. Rachel-Maria Brown TaraskaIn addition to the existing condition specified by Fontana, people with severe COVID-19 are also prone to coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure, said the director of inpatient heart service at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. I did.

“The majority of inpatients with COVID-19 have chronic medical illnesses,” she said.

Studies have shown that the left ventricle of the heart, the chamber for pumping oxygenated blood to all parts of the body, was normal in nearly 90 percent of the 148 study participants.

However, about half of the participants had scarring or damage to the myocardium itself.

Patterns of scarring or injury with inflammation in 39 patients Ischemic heart disease, 32 patients, or both 9 patients, including infarcts (death of heart tissue). Twelve participants showed evidence of ongoing cardiac inflammation.

“Injuries associated with inflammation and scarring of the heart are common in COVID-19 patients with elevated troponin discharged from the hospital,” Fontana said. statement.. “But (it) has a limited range and has little effect on heart function.”

She concluded that “more work is needed to investigate this further.”

according to Dr. Michael GoifmanThere is no evidence that COVID-19 causes more heart damage than other infections, said the Dean of Clinical Cardiology at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, New York.

“So far, the predominance of evidence shows that COVID does not actually cause excessive heart damage compared to other infections,” he said. “In general, viral infections can cause heart inflammation, and COVIDs are viral infections, so they can occur as well. The incidence is probably similar to other infections.”

“COVID is so popular,” the numbers are increasing, Goifman continued. “There is no evidence that COVID causes more heart attacks than other viral illnesses.”

Freeman believes that the number of study subjects is too small to give a clear picture of how COVID-19 affects the heart.

“It’s always great to see what others are seeing, publish that data, and share knowledge with the world,” Freeman said. “But I agree that the sample size is relatively small.”

He saw hundreds of thousands of people who had COVID-19, and even in the United States, “I know that 148 samples don’t give you a huge amount of trend information.” ..

According to a new UK study, half of study participants admitted with severe COVID-19 show heart damage.

Of the 148 participants, researchers found inflammation-induced heart damage in 39 of those patients, most of whom had chronic illness before COVID-19. Was emphasized.

Experts say the small size of the study and the lack of evidence that COVID-19 is directly involved in heart damage is a significant limitation of the study’s results.