can cardiac indices in computed tomography (ct) scan predict covid-19 clinical outcome?

Background: assessing the measurable chest computed tomography (ct) scan cardiac parameters can help us evaluate cardiovascular involvement and risk stratification in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19). objectives: this study investigated the measurable chest cardiac ct indices and their association with predicting outcomes in patients with covid-19. patients and methods: patients with confirmed covid-19 were included in the study from march up to june 2020 and underwent chest ct scans on admission. the following parameters were analyzed: the extent and pattern of lung involvement, cardiothoracic ratio (ctr), pulmonary artery to aorta ratio (pa/a), pericardial effusion, pleural effusion, and inferior vena cava (ivc) diameter through low-dose ct scan. the association between cardiac indices and patients and the extent of lung involvement outcome was evaluated by logistic regression, cox regression, and linear regression, respectively. results: a total of 176 covid-19 patients (51.1% men and 48.9% women) were enrolled in the study. of them, 55 patients (31.25%) died, and 121 patients were discharged (68.75%). the mean age of participants was 64.9 ± 15.09 years. ctr > 0.49 was more frequent among deceased patients (50.9% vs. 31.4%, p = 0.018) and was associated with non-significant increases in odds ratio (or) and hazard ratio (hr) (or = 1.75, p = 0.11; hr = 1.43, p = 0.19). moreover, pa/a > 1 was more common in deaths (52.7% vs. 32.2%; p = 0.012) and significantly increased or but not hr (or = 1.99; p = 0.04; hr = 1.36; p = 0.26). the moderate and severe pleural effusion was noticeably associated with prolonged hospitalization (hr = 4.09, p = 0.01; hr = 3.37, p = 0.02, respectively). the ivc diameter and pericardial effusion were not significantly correlated with outcomes. conclusion: cardiac indices in chest ct of covid-19 patients can be accounted for the prediction of patient outcomes in the clinic, such as pa/a > 1 ratio, which increases the likelihood of in-hospital deaths.