Objective: To assess the association between elevated arterial blood pressure and the development and clinical course of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients following coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Design and method: A total of 116 patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), aged 35–80 years (mean age 63.8 ± 0.6 years; 56 men and 60 women), with a history of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were enrolled. High arterial blood pressure (BP) was defined as systolic BP >140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP >90 mmHg. Group 1 included 36 patients with de novo AF following COVID-19. Group 2 comprised 25 patients who experienced a change in AF form after COVID-19. Group 3 consisted of 55 patients whose AF form remained unchanged after COVID-19. Two control groups were included: control group 1 comprised 49 patients with AF and no history of COVID-19. Control group 2 included 22 patients with extrasystole who had COVID-19 but did not develop AF. Results: Arterial hypertension (AH) was a common comorbidity among patients with AF who had recovered from COVID-19, occurring in 83% of the study population. In patients who developed de novo AF after COVID-19 (group 1), hypertension was 1.4 times more frequent than in patients who had COVID-19, but did not develop this type of arrhythmia (control group 2) (82.8% vs 59.1%, p < 0.001). Hypertension was also more frequent in patients whose AF course worsened (group 2) compared with those whose AF form remained unchanged after COVID-19 (group 3) (82.5% vs 80.0%, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Arterial hypertension is a common comorbidity in patients with AF after COVID-19. Elevated blood pressure is associated with an increased risk of de novo AF development and a worsening of AF course following COVID-19. These findings highlight the importance of careful monitoring and management of hypertension in post-COVID-19 patients to prevent AF onset and progression.
Stasyshena et al. (Fri,) studied this question.