The Prognostic Impact of Myocardial Deformation Measures in Patients with COVID-19

Background: Cardiovascular involvement in COVID-19 has been extensively studied.Echocardiography is an important technique in identifying cardiac involvement, serving as an excellent tool for prognostic variables.Objectives: Analyze the prognostic impact of speckle tracking in analyzing the left ventricle in patients with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).Methods: Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 admitted to the ICU underwent an echocardiographic examination within the first 48 hours of hospitalization and were divided into two groups according to hospital outcome (discharge or death).Conventional echocardiographic data, as well as global longitudinal strain of the left ventricle (LVGLS) and right ventricle (RVGLS) of both groups, were compared using Student's t test (for continuous variables) or the chi-square test (for categorical variables), considering p < 0.05 as statistically significant.Results: The average age was 56 ± 14 years, and the proportion of men and women was similar.The mortality rate was 64%, more frequent in elderly patients and in patients with a higher number of comorbidities.LVGLS revealed lower values in patients who progressed to death, with a cutoff point below -18.1% (sensitivity = 90.4%,specificity = 96.6%)for this outcome, and, after multivariate statistical analysis, it was found to be the only statistically significant echocardiographic variable.Conclusion: LVGLS is an important tool in the prognostic analysis of critically patients with COVID-19, offering a new window of possibilities for evaluating these patients.