Covid 19 and cardiovascular complications

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly spread around the world becoming a global public health emergency. It is caused by a novel enveloped, positively stranded RNA beta coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. COVID-19 has been found to interact and influence the cardiovascular system leading to myocardial damage and cardiac and endothelial dysfunction mainly through the angiotensin 2 converting enzyme receptor (ACE-2). On the one hand, respiratory symptoms are worse in COVID-19 patients with pre-existing heart disorders; on the other hand, new-onset cardiac dysfunction is common in this subgroup. Indeed, heart damage was noted even without the clinical features of respiratory disease. Methods: We included 219 patients in the study who met our admission criteria. Patients were divided into 2 categories according to the severity of the disease covid -19: Moderate - severe (According to the classification, this group includes all patients who do not need intensive care at the time of admission and require low amounts of oxygen supplementation <5L) and Severe (All unstable patients requiring high-liter oxygenation >5 L and intensive care). Results: Our data show that 65.1% of patients presenting with arterial hypertension develop critical covid 19 and 56.4% of those without arterial hypertension have moderate to severe covid 19. 81.0% of patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus 2, manifest critical covid -19, 19.0% of cases instead manifest moderate-severe covid-19. Ischemic heart disease as one of the complications visualized during covid 19 was observed in 31 patients, from which 22 patients experience critical covid 19, constituting a total of 71.0% of cases and 9 patients experience a moderate-severe form of covid 19 (29.0%). The results of mortality show that from 42 patients with diabetes mellitus, 57.1% (24 patients) face death and from 177 patients without diabetes mellitus, only 25.4% (45 patients) has this result. From 31 patients with ischemic heart disease during Covid 19 disease, 11 patients or 35.5% go to death. We can also see that from 188 clinical cases that do not have ischemic heart disease as a complication from covid 19, only 58 patients go to death, therefore 30.9%. Conclusion: This original study confirms that Covid 19, being an infectious disease capable of causing an important systemic inflammation, can compromise the cardiovascular system by predisposing to some complications such as the onset of ischemic heart disease and arrhythmias. Arterial hypertension, Diabetes mellitus and Ischemic heart disease are significant factors for the development of a severe Covid disease and Diabetes mellitus is a statistically significant factor for mortality.