echocardiographic abnormalities as independent prognostic factors of in-hospital mortality among covid-19 patients

Introduction: direct and indirect sequels of covid-19 in the cardiovascular system are unclear. the present study aims to investigate the echocardiography findings in covid-19 patients and possible correlations between the findings and the disease outcome.methods: in this cross-sectional study, baseline characteristics and echocardiographic findings of hospitalized covid-19 cases, and their correlation with mortality were evaluated. furthermore, computed tomography (ct) angiography was performed to assess possible pulmonary embolism. in-hospital mortality was considered as the main outcome of the present study.results: 680 confirmed covid-19 cases with the mean age of 55.15 ± 10.92 (range: 28 – 79) years were studied (63.09% male). analysis showed that history of ischemic heart disease (rr=1.14; 95% ci: 1.08-1.19), history of hypertension (rr=1.04; 95% ci: 1.00-1.08), presence of embolism in main pulmonary artery (rr=1.53; 95% ci: 1.35-1.74), ct involvement more than 70% (rr=1.08; 95% ci: 1.1.01-1.16), left ventricular ejection fraction < 30 (rr=1.19; 95% ci: 1.07-1.32), pleural effusion (rr=1.08; 95% ci: 1.00-1.16), pulmonary artery systolic blood pressure 35 to 50 mmhg (rr=1.11; 95% ci: 1.03-1.18), right ventricular dysfunction (rr=1.54; 95% ci: 1.40-1.08), and collapsed inferior vena-cava (rr=1.05; 95% ci: 1.01-1.08) were independent prognostic factors of in-hospital mortality.conclusion: our study showed that cardiac involvement is a prevalent complication in covid-19 patients. echocardiography findings have independent prognostic value for prediction of in-hospital mortality. since echocardiography is an easy and accessible method, echocardiography monitoring of covid-19 patients can be used as a screening tool for identification of high-risk patients.