Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection with the
novel severe acute respiratory distress syndrome corona virus 2
(SARS-CoV-2). Until now, more than 670 million people have suffered
from COVID-19 worldwide, and roughly 7 million death cases were
attributed to COVID-19. Recent evidence suggests an interplay between
COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease (CVD). COVID-19 may serve as a yet
underappreciated CVD risk modifier, including risk factors such as
diabetes mellitus or arterial hypertension. In addition, recent data
suggest that previous COVID-19 may increase the risk for many entities
of CVD to an extent similarly observed for traditional cardiovascular
(CV) risk factors. Furthermore, increased CVD incidence and worse
clinical outcomes in individuals with preexisting CVD have been
observed for myocarditis, acute coronary syndrome, heart failure (HF),
thromboembolic complications, and arrhythmias. Direct and indirect
mechanisms have been proposed by which COVID-19 may impact CVD and CV
risk, including viral entry into CV tissue or by the induction of a
massive systemic inflammatory response. In the current review, we
provide an overview of the literature reporting an interaction between
COVID-19 and CVD, review potential mechanisms underlying this
interaction, and discuss preventive and treatment strategies and their
interference with CVD that were evaluated since the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cardiovascular disease.
PubMed link to abstract and article:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36851722/