Association between Cardiovascular Disease Risk and long COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Aims To assess demographic characteristics and investigate the correlation between cardiovascular diseases and long COVID-19 patients. Methods and Results Comprehensive details, encompassing the first author's name, publication year, sample inclusion criteria, sample size, and demographic characteristics, including age and gender of participants, were systematically extracted from all incorporated studies. Meanwhile, the analysis encompassed the assessment of the risk associated with nineteen cardiovascular outcomes. A total of 3, 201 potentially eligible studies were initially identified for consideration. Following rigorous literature screening and quality control measures, eighteen studies, encompassing 46, 083, 975 patients, met the specified criteria. In comparison to the control cohort, our investigation unveiled a heightened risk of 19 cardiovascular outcomes associated with long COVID-19. Our meta-analysis revealed a pooled OR of 1.68 (95% CI 1.55-1.81) (I2 = 69.1%, p= 0.000) for the overall risk of cardiovascular outcomes, indicating an elevated risk of cardiovascular diseases in individuals affected by long COVID-19. While the heterogeneity was relatively high, it is essential to acknowledge that all studies inherently carry an unavoidable risk of bias, irrespective of their quality rating. Moreover, there appears to be no significant publication bias based on the funnel plot, Begg's, and Egger's tests. Sensitivity analysis did not reveal substantial alterations in the overall stability of the results. Conclusion Our meta-analysis substantiates that individuals afflicted with long COVID-19 face an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Routine assessment of cardiac function is deemed essential for a long COVID-19 high-risk cardiovascular disease population. Timely interventions have the potential to mitigate the risk of cardiovascular diseases and associated mortality in this population.