Respiratory illness is the dominant clinical manifestation of COVID-19; CVD involvement occurs rarely. Acute cardiac injury, defined as a significant elevation of cardiac troponins, is the most commonly reported cardiac abnormality in COVID-19 affecting ~8–12% of patients. A Chinese study reported the incidence of heart failure in 52% of COVID-19 patients who subsequently died and in 12% of COVID-19 patients who were discharged from the hospital. Another study reported 16.7% incidence of arrhythmia higher in COVID-19 patients requiring ICU admissions. Careful follow-up of those recovering from the current COVID-19 would be important to understand the long-term impact of this illness and also to protect these patients from future CVD.
