IMR Press / RCM / Volume 23 / Issue 6 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2306218
Open Access Review
Co-Management of COVID-19 and Heart Failure During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned
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1 Cardiovascular Diseases Unit Department of Medical Sciences, Le Scotte Hospital University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy
2 John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School, The University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70121, USA
3 Department of Clinical, Internal, Anesthesiology and Cardiovascular Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy
4 University Hospital Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, BS1 3NU, UK
5 North Bristol NHS Trust, BS1 3NU, UK
6 Truth for Health Foundation, Tucson, AZ 85728, USA
*Correspondence: palazzuoli2@unisi.it (Alberto Palazzuoli)
Academic Editor: Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2022, 23(6), 218; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2306218
Submitted: 9 April 2022 | Revised: 28 April 2022 | Accepted: 10 May 2022 | Published: 16 June 2022
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

The COVID pandemic has brought many new challenges worldwide, which has impacted on patients with chronic conditions. There is an increasing evidence base suggesting an interaction between chronic heart failure (HF) and COVID-19, and in turn the prognostic impact of co-existence of the two conditions. Patients with existing HF appear more prone to develop severe complications on contracting COVID-19, but the exact prevalence in patients with mild symptoms of COVID-19 not requiring hospital admission is poorly investigated. In addition, hospitalization rates for acute HF over the pandemic period appear reduced compared to previous periods. Several key issues remain rather unaddressed and, importantly, a specific algorithm focused on diagnostic differentiation between HF and acute respiratory distress syndrome, a severe complication of COVID-19, is still lacking. Furthermore, recent data suggests potential interaction existing between HF treatment and some anti-viral anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed during the infection, raising some doubts about a universal treatment strategy for all patients with COVID-19. With this manuscript, we aim to review the current literature in this field in light of growing understanding of COVID-19 in the setting of the HF population, its associated morbidity and mortality burden, and the impact on healthcare systems. We hope that this may stimulate a discussion to guarantee a better, more tailored delivery of care for patients with HF in the setting of concomitant COVID-19 infection.

Keywords
heart failure
SARS-CoV-2
outbreak
diagnosis
management
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