Looking for Brugada in COVID-19 patients

INTRODUCTION: Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, several cardiovascular manifestations linked to the infection have been described. Brugada syndrome is a channelopathy responsible for ventricular arrhythmia on a healthy heart. Fever, which is a frequent symptom of the infection, can unmask an aspect of this arrhythmia or constitute a trigger for its onset. OBJECTIVE: Describe the prevalence of Brugada syndrome and these clinical features in a population infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. METHOD: This is a prospective study over a period of one year involving patients with virological proof of infection and no history of heart disease. RESULTS: The study included 1,073 patients, 5 of whom (0.46%) had an EKG compatible with Brugada (type 1) (Fig. 1). All of those patients were admitted and presented with fever. Four of them were men, the median age of these patients was 34.9 years, one patient parent suffered a sudden death, one patient had a history of syncope, another patient had his first episode of syncope after the infection. CONCLUSION: Even though we do not have any local data to compare with, in our study we found a higher prevalence of Brugada syndrome compared to the general population in western countries. This can be explained by the fever that frequently accompanies the SARS-CoV-2 infection. It has an important role in unveiling the electrical aspect of the condition, thus allowing a more precise estimate of the prevalence of the syndrome.