Correlation of echocardiographic variables and biomarkers in severely ill COVID-19 patients

Objective: To describe echocardiographic variables and their correlation with biomarkers and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Method: Observational, descriptive, longitudinal, and retrospective study. Results: 70% (n = 21) corresponded to the male gender; means of age and body mass index were 59 (46-67) years and 30.1 (27.3-32.4) kg/m 2 , respectively. In the evaluation of the left ventricular systolic function, an appropriate correlation between MAPSE (mitral annular plane systolic excursion) and the left ventricular ejection fraction (r 2 = 0.508, p = 0.004) was observed. In the evaluation of the right ventricular systolic function, an optimum correlation between TAPSE (tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion) and the right ventricular outflow tract fractional shortening (r 2 = 0.649, p = 0.0001) was observed. No correlation between biomarkers and echocardiographic variables between surviving and non-surviving patients was found, except for MAPSE and serum lactate dehydrogenase values (r 2 = -0.427, p = 0.019). The mortality rate was 16% (n = 5). Conclusion: An appropriate correlation between echocardiographic variables of both left and right ventricular systolic function was found, as well as between MAPSE and serum LDH values.