Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan 25;11(1):1-19.
doi: 10.5501/wjv.v11.i1.1.

Heart failure in COVID-19 patients: Critical care experience

Kevin John John  1 , Ajay K Mishra  2 , Chidambaram Ramasamy  2 , Anu A George  2 , Vijairam Selvaraj  3 , Amos Lal  4
Affiliations
Review

Heart failure in COVID-19 patients: Critical care experience

Kevin John John et al. World J Virol. .

Abstract

Patients with heart failure (HF) may be at a higher risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and may have a worse outcome due to their comorbid conditions and advanced age. In this narrative review, we aim to study the interaction between COVID-19 and HF from a critical care perspective. We performed a systematic search for studies that reported HF and critical care-related outcomes in COVID-19 patients in the PubMed and Medline databases. From a total of 1050 papers, we identified 26 that satisfied the eligibility criteria for our review. Data such as patient demographics, HF, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, management, and outcome were extracted from these studies and analyzed. We reported outcomes in heart-transplant patients with COVID-19 separately. In hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the prevalence of HF varied between 4% and 21%. The requirement for ICU admission was between 8% and 33%. HF patients with COVID-19 had an overall mortality rate between 20% and 40%. We identified that HF is an independent predictor of mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and patients with HF were more likely to require ventilation, ICU admission and develop complications. Patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction did worse than those with HF with midrange ejection fraction, and HF with preserved ejection fraction. COVID-19 patients with HF should be identified early and managed aggressively in an attempt to improve outcomes in this cohort of patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; Critical care; Heart failure; Intensive care; Mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors claim no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CONSORT diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Coronavirus disease 2019 and heart failure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Inciardi RM, Adamo M, Lupi L, Cani DS, Di Pasquale M, Tomasoni D, Italia L, Zaccone G, Tedino C, Fabbricatore D, Curnis A, Faggiano P, Gorga E, Lombardi CM, Milesi G, Vizzardi E, Volpini M, Nodari S, Specchia C, Maroldi R, Bezzi M, Metra M. Characteristics and outcomes of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and cardiac disease in Northern Italy. Eur Heart J . 2020;41:1821–1829. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Singer AJ, Morley EJ, Meyers K, Fernandes R, Rowe AL, Viccellio P, Thode HC, Bracey A, Henry MC. Cohort of Four Thousand Four Hundred Four Persons Under Investigation for COVID-19 in a New York Hospital and Predictors of ICU Care and Ventilation. Ann Emerg Med . 2020;76:394–404. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zylla MM, Merle U, Vey JA, Korosoglou G, Hofmann E, Müller M, Herth F, Schmidt W, Blessing E, Göggelmann C, Weidner N, Fiedler MO, Weigand MA, Kälble F, Morath C, Leiner J, Kieser M, Katus HA, Thomas D. Predictors and Prognostic Implications of Cardiac Arrhythmias in Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19. J Clin Med . 2021;10 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Russo V, Di Maio M, Mottola FF, Pagnano G, Attena E, Verde N, Di Micco P, Silverio A, Scudiero F, Nunziata L, Fele N, D'Andrea A, Parodi G, Albani S, Scacciatella P, Nigro G, Severino S. Clinical characteristics and prognosis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with incident sustained tachyarrhythmias: A multicenter observational study. Eur J Clin Invest . 2020;50:e13387. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bhatla A, Mayer MM, Adusumalli S, Hyman MC, Oh E, Tierney A, Moss J, Chahal AA, Anesi G, Denduluri S, Domenico CM, Arkles J, Abella BS, Bullinga JR, Callans DJ, Dixit S, Epstein AE, Frankel DS, Garcia FC, Kumareswaram R, Nazarian S, Riley MP, Santangeli P, Schaller RD, Supple GE, Lin D, Marchlinski F, Deo R. COVID-19 and cardiac arrhythmias. Heart Rhythm . 2020;17:1439–1444. - PMC - PubMed