CV considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic

In light of the current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, JACC published an article that reviewed literature on CV considerations in relation to COVID-19 and highlighted gaps in knowledge on this topic that require more research. The authors aimed to characterize the CV impact of COVID-19, consequences of COVID-19 infection in patients with established CVD, and considerations for CVD patients with and without COVID-19, health care workers, and health systems. Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on CV health, and on the CV community in general, will be important for optimizing outcomes during this critical period.

The article outlined a number of important considerations regarding CV health during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are: (1) COVID-19 patients with pre-existing CVD have increased risk of severe disease and death, (2) infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been associated with acute myocardial injury, myocarditis, arrhythmias and venous thromboembolism, (3) COVID-19 therapies that are currently under development may have CV side effects, (4) rapid triage of non-COVID-19 patients with CV health problems may be compromised due to the response to COVID-19, and (5) CV health care workers might unintentionally transmit the virus to patients or colleagues. Thus, during the coming months, the CV community will play a key role in the management and treatment of infected patients and providing continued care to non-infected patients with CVD.

Further the authors stress the urgent need for high quality research into the interplay between COVID-19 and CVD and the efficacy of new therapies, which will be crucial to the treatment of infected patients.

Source: JACC, March 2020