Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) leads to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 , a worldwide epidemic disease affecting increasing number of patients. Although the virus primarily targets respiratory system, cardiovascular involvement has been reported in accumulating studies. In this review, we first describe the cardiac disorders in human with various types of CoV infection, and in animals infected with coronavirus. Particularly, we will focus on the association of cardiovascular disorders upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, and prognostic cardiac biomarkers in COVID-19. Besides, we will discuss the possible mechanisms underlying cardiac injury resulted from SARS-CoV-2 infection including direct myocardial injury caused by viral infection, reduced level of ACE2, and inflammatory response during infection. Improved understandings of cardiac disorders associated with COVID-19 might predict clinical outcome and provide insights into more rational treatment responses in clinical practice.
Keywords COVID-19 • Cardiovascular disorders • Hs-cTnI • NT-proBNP • Prognosis
Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2Coronaviruses (CoVs), members of the virus family Coronaviridae, are characterized as enveloped viruses with a sense and single-stranded RNA genome. CoVs, the largest known RNA viruses with genome sizes around 31 kb, encode structural proteins including the spike (S) protein, nucleocapsid