Right atrial reservoir strain and right ventricular strain improves in patients recovered from hospitalisation for non-severe COVID-19

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.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• follow-up
• right atrial reservoir strain
• right ventricle
• speckle tracking echocardiography

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).