sST2 and morphofunctional parameters of the left ventricle in patients with coronary artery disease and chronic heart failure after COVID-19

Objective: to assess the concentration of the sST2 biomarker and its relationship with the morphological and functional parameters of the LV myocardium in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and functional class (FC) I-III chronic heart failure (CHF), who survived COVID-19 or did not experience it. Materials and Methods. We examined 100 patients (66 males) of median (Me) age of 65 [63; 67] years with stable CAD and FC I-III CHF (sensu New York Heart Association), distributed among two groups depending on the presence of COVID-19 in their anamneses. Along with the conventional clinical examination, the concentration of serum sST2 was determined via ELISA. Results. We revealed that in patients surviving COVID-19 (Group 1), the sST2 level was 38.4 [35.5; 44.8] ng/mL, while in the comparison group (Group 2), it amounted to 29.63 [27.9; 32.7] ng/mL (p<0.001). In Group 1, the end-diastolic volume and the end-systolic volume of the left ventricle (LV) significantly exceeded values of these parameters in Group 2 (p=0.004 and p=0.02, respectively) and amounted to 118.2 [107.5; 166.5] mL and 44.1 [35.0; 58.1] mL, correspondingly, in Group 1 and 107.5 [92.4; 129.5] mL and 37.9 [29.5; 47.4] mL in Group 2. The number of patients with grade 2 diastolic dysfunction (DD) in Group 1 (18–33.9%) significantly exceeded that in the comparison group (7%–14.9%). Changes in global longitudinal strain (GLS) of the LV in Group 1 (-15.6 [-20.8; -13.8] %) were more pronounced than in the comparison group (-19.9 [-21.5; -16.3] %), p=0.018. Conclusion. CAD patients with FC I-III CHF, who survived COVID-19, had statistically significantly higher serum sST2 concentration, more pronounced LV DD, and greater LV GLS.