COVID-19 and cardiac injury: clinical manifestations, biomarkers, mechanisms, diagnosis, treatment and follow up.

Tajbakhsh, Amir; Gheibi Hayat, Seyed Mohammad; Taghizadeh, Hajar; Akbari, Ali; Einabadi, Masoumeh; Savardashtaki, Amir; Johnston, Thomas P; Sahebkar, Amirhossein

INTRODUCTION Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has the characteristics of high transmission, diverse clinical manifestations, and a long incubation period. In addition to infecting the respiratory system, COVID-19 also has adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. COVID-19 causes acute myocardial injuries, as well as chronic damage to the cardiovascular system. AREAS COVERED The present review is aimed at providing current information on COVID-19 and the cardiovascular system. PubMed, Scopus, Science direct and Google Scholar were searched. EXPERT OPINION It is suggested that heart injury caused by COVID-19 infection might be an important cause of severe clinical phenotypes or adverse events in affected patients. Myocardial damage is closely related to the severity of the disease and even the prognosis in patients with COVID-19. In addition to disorders that are caused by COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system, more protection should be employed for patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Hence, it is very important that once relevant symptoms appear, patients with COVID-19 be rapidly treated to reduce mortality. Thus, early measurements of cardiac damage via biomarkers following hospitalization for COVID-19 infections in patient with pre-existing CVD is recommended, together with careful monitoring of any myocardial injury that might be caused by the infection.