Cardiovascular complications in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients have been associated with poor prognosis. Myocarditis, acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, and arrhythmia have been reported. We present a case of a 55-year-old female patient with no significant past medical history who was admitted due to COVID-19 induced acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. She developed multiple asymptomatic episodes of long sinus pauses as her oxygen requirements increased. These resolved without atropine and pacing as her respiratory status improved. Hypoxemia, cytokine storm, dysautonomia, direct viral infiltration, and surrounding myocardial inflammation are thought to be responsible for bradyarrhythmias associated with COVID-19. Both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases have been reported. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients should be monitored closely on telemetry in order to promptly recognize any arrhythmia; hence preventing an unexplained rapid decline in cardiopulmonary status by intensifying care and managing the arrhythmia in a timely manner. Follow-up studies would be needed to determine the long-term outcomes of COVID-19 patients who developed bradyarrhythmias.
Introduction: Heart failure (HF) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States (US). Approximately 6.2 million adults in the United Status have HF and results in an estimated 13.4% of deaths annually. While the development of HF is linked to a variety of risk factors, the incidence and prevalence of methamphetamine-associated HF (HF-Meth) is rising secondary to the methamphetamine epidemic that is plaguing America. This study aims to compare the characteristics and outcomes of HF-Meth with other forms of HF. Methods: The discharge data of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2009 to 2014 were analyzed and records for HF hospitalization were identified using all ICD-9 codes for HF. These were further stratified based on meth use with the ICD-9 codes (304.40, 305.7, 969.72). We compared frequency of in-hospital mortality,incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death (SCD), rates of unemployment, and homelessness between patients with and without ICD-9 codes indicative of meth use. Percentage and chi-square-based P-values were reported. Results: Out of the 25,209,723 sampling weight-adjusted patients with ICD-9 codes indicative of HF, 58,359 (0.23%) had ICD codes indicative of Meth use. Relative to other patients with HF, HF-Meth experienced a lower in-hospital mortality rate (2.9 vs 5.0%, p <0.001), had a higher incidence of cardiac arrhythmias (7.1 vs 5.9%, p <0.001) and SCD (2.6 vs 1.8%, p <0.001), a higher rate of unemployment (0.49 vs 0.03%, p <0.001) and homelessness (6.1 vs 0.2%, p <0.001). In addition, HF-Meth was associated with a higher rate of alcohol abuse (21.1 vs 2.9%, p <0.001), cigarette smoking (73.8 vs 28.2%, p<0.001) and essential hypertension (43.8 vs 40.3%, p <0.001). Diabetes and hyperlipidemia were more prevalent in patients with other forms of HF (29.3 vs 43.44%, p <0.001 and 0.26 vs 0.45%, p <0.001 respectively). Conclusions: Patients with HF-Meth had a higher rate of cardiac arrhythmias, SCD, unemployment and homelessness. Additionally, they had a lower in-hospital mortality when compared with those not associated with meth use.
Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Von Willebrand factor plays an important role in platelet activation and adhesion. It remains unclear whether Von Willebrand disease (vWD) is associated with a decreased risk of developing CVA. The study aimed to compare the relative risk (RR) of CVA in patients with and without vWD. We queried the National Inpatient Sample from 2009 to 2014 for discharge data and records for vWD and CVA using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth-Revision codes. The unadjusted and adjusted RR of CVA in patients with and without vWD were estimated using log-binomial model. Descriptive measures including means, medians, standard deviations, and range were presented based on normality test of continuous data. The prevalence of CVA was lower in patients with vWD than in those without vWD (1.31% vs 2.04%), with a RR of 0.64 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.60–0.68). After adjusting for common CVA risk factors, the RR remained lower in vWD patients: 0.81 (95% CI: 0.76–0.86). vWD is associated with a lower RR of developing CVA. This suggests that deficiency of Von Willebrand factor is potentially protective against the development of CVA. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in humans to compare the RR of CVA in patients with and without vWD. Future studies are needed to explore causal relationships and therapeutic benefits.
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