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Interatrial Block and Electrocardiographic Markers of Repolarization in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19:

Rengin Cetin Guvenc1, Ali Kaan Guren2, Busra Engur2

  • 1Okan University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Istanbul, Turkey.

Medeniyet Medical Journal
|December 27, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 showed a higher incidence of advanced interatrial block (IAB), a marker of abnormal electrical conduction in the atria. This finding may help explain the increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in COVID-19 patients.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Electrophysiology

Background:

  • Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is linked to arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular arrhythmias.
  • Electrophysiological abnormalities on electrocardiography (ECG) can indicate impaired interatrial conduction or repolarization issues.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the prevalence of specific ECG markers of abnormal conduction and repolarization in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
  • To determine if these ECG markers are more common in COVID-19 patients compared to non-COVID-19 controls.

Main Methods:

  • A study group of 87 COVID-19 patients and a control group of 64 non-COVID-19 hospitalized patients were analyzed.
  • ECGs were assessed for partial and advanced interatrial block (IAB), QT interval, corrected QT (QTc), QT dispersion (QTd), and T peak-to-end duration (Tpe).

Main Results:

  • Advanced IAB was significantly more frequent in COVID-19 patients (11.5%) than in controls (0.0%, p=0.005).
  • Partial IAB was also more common in COVID-19 patients, but did not reach statistical significance.
  • No significant differences were found in QTc, QTd, or Tpe between the groups.
  • Bayesian analysis provided strong evidence for an association between COVID-19 and advanced IAB (BF10:16).

Conclusions:

  • Hospitalized COVID-19 patients exhibit a higher likelihood of advanced interatrial block (IAB).
  • Advanced IAB may be a contributing factor to the increased incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) observed in patients with COVID-19.
Abstract

Keywords:
COVID-19atrial fibrillationelectrocardiographyinteratrial blockventricular arrhythmia

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