Impact of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases on mortality and severity of COVID-19–systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression

BACKGROUND: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the latest evidence on the association between cerebrovascular, and cardiovascular diseases and poor outcome in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. METHODS: A comprehensive systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, SCOPUS, EuropePMC, and Cochrane Central Database. The outcome of interest was composite poor outcome that comprised of mortality and severe COVID-19. RESULTS: A total of 4448 patients were obtained from 16 studies. Cerebrovascular disease was associated with an increased composite poor outcome (RR 2.04 [1.43,2.91], p<0.001; I(2): 77%). Subgroup analysis revealed that cerebrovascular disease was associated with mortality (RR 2.38 [1.92,2.96], p<0.001; I(2): 0%) and showed borderline significance for severe COVID-19 (RR 1.88 [1.00,3.51], p = 0.05; I(2): 87%). Cardiovascular disease was associated with increased composite poor outcome (RR 2.23 [1.71,2.91], p<0.001; I(2): 60%), mortality (RR 2.25 [1.53,3.29], p<0.001; I(2): 33%) and severe COVID-19 (RR 2.25 [1.51,3.36], p<0.001; I(2): 76%). Meta-regression demonstrate that the association was not influenced by gender, age, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory comorbidities. Furthermore, the association between cerebrovascular disease and poor outcome was not affected by cardiovascular diseases and vice versa. CONCLUSION: Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases were associated with an increased risk for poor outcome in patients with COVID-19.