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Review
. 2023 Feb 11;15(2):508.
doi: 10.3390/v15020508.

Impact of COVID-19 on Cardiovascular Disease

Ivan Vosko  1 , Andreas Zirlik  1 , Heiko Bugger  1
Affiliations
Review

Impact of COVID-19 on Cardiovascular Disease

Ivan Vosko et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection with the novel severe acute respiratory distress syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Until now, more than 670 million people have suffered from COVID-19 worldwide, and roughly 7 million death cases were attributed to COVID-19. Recent evidence suggests an interplay between COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease (CVD). COVID-19 may serve as a yet underappreciated CVD risk modifier, including risk factors such as diabetes mellitus or arterial hypertension. In addition, recent data suggest that previous COVID-19 may increase the risk for many entities of CVD to an extent similarly observed for traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. Furthermore, increased CVD incidence and worse clinical outcomes in individuals with preexisting CVD have been observed for myocarditis, acute coronary syndrome, heart failure (HF), thromboembolic complications, and arrhythmias. Direct and indirect mechanisms have been proposed by which COVID-19 may impact CVD and CV risk, including viral entry into CV tissue or by the induction of a massive systemic inflammatory response. In the current review, we provide an overview of the literature reporting an interaction between COVID-19 and CVD, review potential mechanisms underlying this interaction, and discuss preventive and treatment strategies and their interference with CVD that were evaluated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cardiovascular disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic of the interplay between COVID-19 and CVD. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 increases the risk of CVD such as myocarditis, acute coronary syndrome, atherosclerosis, HF, thromboembolic complications, and arrhythmias. Proposed mechanisms include direct as well as indirect effects of COVID-19, which adversely affect the myocardium, vasculature, and coagulation system. In addition, COVID-19 increases the risk for common CV risk factors. In combination, effects of COVID-19 on CVD increase hospitalization and mortality, likely both during the acute course of COVID-19 and in the long term following the acute infection. ACS, acute coronary syndrome; ACE2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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