Cardiac manifestation of corona virus disease 2019: a preliminary report

Background: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a multi-systemic illness that can present with cardiac complications. This report describes the preliminary findings of cardiac manifestations seen in patients managed in three centres in Lagos, Nigeria. Methods: Ten patients, part of an ongoing study of patients admitted in three centres in Lagos, Nigeria, with COVID-19 diagnosed with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or serology were retrospectively studied for cardiac manifestations. Results: The mean (SD) age was 52.5 +/- 18.79 years (with a minimum of 17 years and maximum of 79 years). Six patients were female and four were male. Hypertension was seen in 70%, diabetes in 50% and obesity in 60% of patients. All had elevated inflammatory markers. Only four patients had bilateral pneumonia. The rest had only cardiac manifestations. Six patients presented with de novo heart failure and one had decompensated heart failure. A set of three patients had individually fulminant myocarditis, probable pulmonary embolism and stress cardiomyopathy, respectively. Conclusion: This study shows that co-morbidities are common in patients with COVID-19 and cardiac complications. The array of cardiac complications is large, with the commonest being heart failure.