Cardiovascular outcomes between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 pneumonia: a nationwide cohort study

BACKGROUND: Previous studies that assessed the risk of cardiovascular outcomes in survivors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were likely limited by lack of generalizability and selection of controls nonrepresentative of a counterfactual situation regarding COVID-19-related hospitalization. This study determined whether COVID-19 hospitalization was associated with incident cardiovascular outcomes compared to non-COVID-19 pneumonia hospitalization. METHODS: Nationwide population-based study conducted using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. A cohort of 132,784 inpatients with COVID-19 (October 8, 2020–September 30, 2021) and a cohort of 31,173 inpatients with non-COVID-19 pneumonia (January 1–December 31, 2019) were included. The primary outcome was the major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE; a composite of myocardial infarction and stroke). Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of all outcomes of interest were estimated between inverse probability of treatment-weighted patients with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 pneumonia. RESULTS: After weighting, the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 pneumonia groups included 125,810 (mean [SD] age, 47.2 [17.6] years; men, 49.3%) and 28,492 patients (mean [SD] age, 48.6 [18.4] years; men, 47.2%), respectively. COVID-19 hospitalization was not associated with an increased risk of the MACE (HR, 0.84; 95% CI 0.69–1.03). However, the MACE (HR, 7.30; 95% CI 3.29–16.21), dysrhythmia (HR, 1.88; 95% CI 1.04–3.42), acute myocarditis (HR, 11.33; 95% CI 2.97–43.20), myocardial infarction (HR, 6.78; 95% CI 3.03–15.15), congestive heart failure (HR, 1.95; 95% CI 1.37–2.77), and thrombotic disease (HR, 8.26; 95% CI 4.06–16.83) risks were significantly higher in patients with COVID-19 aged 18–39 years. The findings were consistent after adjustment for preexisting cardiovascular disease. COVID-19 hospitalization conferred a higher risk of acute myocarditis (HR, 6.47; 95% CI 2.53–16.52) or deep vein thrombosis (HR, 1.97; 95% CI 1.38–2.80), regardless of vaccination status. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were not at an increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes compared to patients with non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether the increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes is confined to younger patients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12916-023-03106-z.