Prognostic utility of cardiovascular indices in COVID-19 infection: A single-center prospective study in India

BACKGROUND: Cardiac signs can show illness progression and severity in a number of respiratory and cardiovascular disorders. The possible importance of CT findings in the prognosis and result of COVID-19 patients is related to the severity of lung disease and cardiac parameters. The CT-assessed cardiac indices are known for predicting the involvement of extent of diseases. Hence, the objective of this study was to correlate the extent of cardiovascular and respiratory involvement in predicting the severity of disease using CT-assessed cardiac indices in Indian population suffering from COVID-19. METHODOLOGY: A total of 120 COVID-19 patients were included following the inclusion criteria for one year. The confounding factors were assessed and analyzed. The correlation between the cumulative hazard function of death and duration in hospital along with survival rate were done in terms of pulmonary artery-to-aorta ratio (PA/A), and cardiothoracic ratio (CTR). RESULTS: The analysis showed mean age of patients to be 49.5(±15.32) years in which mean females were 38(±31.7) and males were 82(±68.3). The interquartile range of CT severity was 8. The PA/A ratio in discharged patients was 0.85 when compared to deceased patients with 1.03 having statistically significant inference (P = 0.00). The CTR (P = 0.00), epicardial adipose thickness (P = 0.00), epicardial adipose density (P = 0.00), and D-dimer (P = 0.007) were showing statistically significant inference. CONCLUSION: The predictive values of CT-assessed cardiac indices might be used for predicting the involvement of cardiovascular and respiratory involvement in COVID-19 patients. It could have an impact on improving the possibilities of survival of patients suffering from COVID-19 in India.