Abstract
Purpose
Those hospitalised with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have recently been shown to have impaired right ventricular (RV) strain, but data about the course of heart function after discharge are limited. Our aim was to compare right ventricular strain and right atrial reservoir strain (RASr) associated with COVID-19 between acute disease (during hospitalisation) and follow-up (after discharge).
Methods
In this retrospective single-center study, we analysed the echocardiograms of 43 patients hospitalised for non-severe COVID-19 between December 2020 and March 2021, undergoing echocardiography both during and after hospitalisation. In addition to conventional echocardiographic parameters, we applied 2-dimensional speckle tracking to obtain RV global longitudinal strain (RV-GLS), RV free wall strain (RV-FWS), and RASr.
Results
Mean (standard deviation) age of the study population was 50 (9) years, and 18 (42%) of the participants were women. Median duration between exams was 6 months (range, 5–7 months). Both mean RV-GLS and mean RV-FWS significantly increased at follow-up (−20.8 [3.8] vs. −23.5 [2.8], p < 0.001 and −23.3 [4.2] vs. −28.2 [2.8], p < 0.001; respectively), and RASr significantly improved as well (−32.3 [6.6] vs. −41.9 [9.8], p < 0.001).
Conclusion
In patients hospitalised for non-severe COVID-19 pneumonia, RV-GLS, RV-FWS, and RASr improved significantly between acute disease and 6 months after discharge.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all doctors, nurses, and other health providers at Basaksehir Cam & Sakura City Hospital who were involved in taking care of COVID-19 patients.
Author contributions
All authors contributed to (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and (3) final approval of the version to be published.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).