key: cord-0913078-x89ectog
authors: Colon, Chad M.; Barrios, James G.; Chiles, Joe W.; McElwee, Samuel K.; Russell, Derek W.; Maddox, William R.; Kay, G. Neal
title: Atrial Arrhythmias in COVID-19 Patients
date: 2020-05-28
journal: JACC Clin Electrophysiol
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacep.2020.05.015
sha: fb328a6338e82cb1643a731ac2c95522690ec85f
doc_id: 913078
cord_uid: x89ectog

nan

including biochemical, echocardiographic, and electrocardiographic (ECG) evidence of myocardial involvement (1) (2) (3) . However, the occurrence of atrial arrhythmias in patients with this infection and how these arrhythmias impact the clinical course of COVID-19 patients has not been well described. In an IRB-approved protocol, we analyzed the 12-lead ECGs and telemetry of all patients admitted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital between February 29, 2020 and April 10, 2020 with PCR-proven SARS-CoV-2 infection.

There were 115 patients admitted with COVID-19, including 69 patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) and 46 patients admitted to a general medicine ward. The age was 56 ± 17 years, including 54% males. There were 64 African Americans, 41 Whites, and 10 Asians or Hispanics. Underlying comorbidities included hypertension in 70%, current or former tobacco use in 42%, diabetes in 39%, coronary artery disease in 16%, chronic kidney disease in 14%, and chronic obstructive lung disease in 13%. An atrial tachyarrhythmia that had not been present on admission was recorded on a subsequent 12-lead ECG in 19 patients (16.5%), all admitted to the MICU (27.5% of MICU patients). In contrast, no patient admitted to the general inpatient service developed atrial arrhythmias (p=0.00002). These arrhythmias included atrial fibrillation in 12 patients, atrial flutter in 6 patients, and atrial tachycardia in 1 patient.

Compared with patients without atrial tachyarrhythmias, those with atrial fibrillation, flutter, or tachycardia tended to be older with higher concentrations of CRP and d-dimer, but had similar levels of BNP and HS Troponin (Table 1) 

Cardiac Involvement in a Patient With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Association of Cardiac Injury with Mortality in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 in Wuhan, China

Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China: Summary of a Report of 72 314 Cases From the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Vasopressin versus norepinephrine in septic shock: a propensity score matched efficiency retrospective cohort study in the VASST coordinating center hospital

Angiotensin II for the Treatment of Vasodilatory Shock

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose relevant to the content matter being studied or discussed. There are no other grants, contracts, or other forms of financial support to disclose. Each author contributed via data collection, analysis, and manuscript writing or editing. Each author has reviewed the final manuscript and has approved it. The work was not supported by industry.