Profile of cardiovascular manifestations in COVID-19 patients at the Libreville university hospital center, Gabon

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular affections are frequent in COVID-19. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to describe the profile of cardiovascular manifestations in a population of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. METHODS: This was a descriptive retrospective study carried out at the center hospitalier universitaire de Libreville on April 1st, 2020 to March 30th, 2021. All the files of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 that were confirmed by PCR and presenting a cardiovascular affection were included. These patients had undergone a complete clinical examination and an electrocardiogram. Doppler echocardiography and/or thoracic CT angiography were performed according to clinical suspicion. The data were processed with SPSS 16.0 software. Quantitative variables are described as median or mean and qualitative variables as a percentage. RESULTS: Out of the 452 patients admitted for COVID-19 during this period, 51 (11.3%) presented a cardiovascular affection. The mean age was 59.1 ± 13.3 years with a predominance of men (sex ratio 1.4). Cardiovascular risk factors were dominated by high blood pressure (60.7%), obesity (43.1%) and diabetes (19.6%). The most common cardiovascular manifestations were pulmonary embolism (31.3%), arrhythmias (33.3%) and heart failure (21.6%). Acute coronary syndromes were rarer (5.9%). The medians of D dimers and CRP were 3270 microg/L and 60.5 mg/L, respectively. COVID-19-specific pulmonary CT lesions were severe in 19.6% of cases. Non-invasive ventilation was performed in 17.6% of patients. Hospital mortality was 7.8%. CONCLUSION: Cardiovascular manifestations are frequent in Libreville for COVID-19 and affect young people. The early diagnostic and management of these affections are essential despite this particular infectious context.