Cardiac Complications in Patients Hospitalised With COVID-19 in Australia.
OBJECTIVES
Describe the incidence of cardiac complications in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in Australia.


DESIGN
Observational cohort study.


SETTING
Twenty-one (21) Australian hospitals.


PARTICIPANTS
Consecutive patients aged ≥18 years admitted to hospital with laboratory confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Incidence of cardiac complications.


RESULTS
Six-hundred-and-forty-four (644) hospitalised patients (62.5±20.1 yo, 51.1% male) with COVID-19 were enrolled in the study. Overall in-hospital mortality was 14.3%. Twenty (20) (3.6%) patients developed new atrial fibrillation or flutter during admission and 9 (1.6%) patients were diagnosed with new heart failure or cardiomyopathy. Three (3) (0.5%) patients developed high grade atrioventricular (AV) block. Two (2) (0.3%) patients were clinically diagnosed with pericarditis or myopericarditis. Among the 295 (45.8%) patients with at least one troponin measurement, 99 (33.6%) had a peak troponin above the upper limit of normal (ULN). In-hospital mortality was higher in patients with raised troponin (32.3% vs 6.1%, p<0.001). New onset atrial fibrillation or flutter (6.4% vs 1.0%, p=0.001) and troponin elevation above the ULN (50.3% vs 16.4%, p<0.001) were more common in patients 65 years and older. There was no significant difference in the rate of cardiac complications between males and females.


CONCLUSIONS
Among patients with COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation in Australia, troponin elevation was common but clinical cardiac sequelae were uncommon. The incidence of atrial arrhythmias and troponin elevation was greatest in patients 65 years and older.
['Bhatia|Kunwardeep S|KS|', 'Sritharan|Hari P|HP|', 'Chia|Justin|J|', 'Ciofani|Jonathan|J|', 'Nour|Daniel|D|', 'Chui|Karina|K|', 'Vasanthakumar|Sheran|S|', 'Jayadeva|Pavithra|P|', 'Kandadai|Dhanvee|D|', 'Allahwala|Usaid|U|', 'Bhagwandeen|Rohan|R|', 'Brieger|David B|DB|', 'Choong|Christopher Y P|CYP|', 'Delaney|Anthony|A|', 'Dwivedi|Girish|G|', 'Harris|Benjamin|B|', 'Hillis|Graham|G|', 'Hudson|Bernard|B|', 'Javorsky|George|G|', 'Jepson|Nigel|N|', 'Kanagaratnam|Logan|L|', 'Kotsiou|George|G|', 'Lee|Astin|A|', 'Lo|Sidney T H|STH|', 'MacIsaac|Andrew I|AI|', 'McQuillan|Brendan M|BM|', 'Ranasinghe|Isuru|I|', 'Walton|Antony|A|', 'Weaver|James|J|', 'Wilson|William|W|', 'Yong|Andy|A|', 'Zhu|John|J|', 'van Gaal|William|W|', 'Kritharides|Leonard|L|', 'Chow|Clara|C|', 'Bhindi|Ravinay|R|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D001281:Atrial Fibrillation D001315:Australia D000086382:COVID-19 D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D010493:Pericarditis D000086402:SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19 Cardiomyopathy Troponin Arrhythmia