Key result
COVID-19 infection is linked to a ~17% overall incidence of arrhythmia.
Why the study?
Incidence rates of arrhythmia and mortality rates after incident arrhythmia in COVID-19 patients have not been systematically established.
Meta-Analysis (n=17,435)
Yes
COVID-19 infection is associated with a high incidence of arrhythmia (16.8%), which carries a substantial mortality rate (20.3%) among predominantly hospitalized patients.
Provides first pooled incidence and mortality estimates for arrhythmias in COVID-19; extends case series to guide monitoring and research.
Arrhythmia is a potential cardiovascular complication of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) [1].In one case series of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 16.7% developed unspecified arrhythmia [2], while another case series indicated sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation among 5.9% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 [3].However, incidence rates of arrhythmia and mortality rates after incident arrhythmia in COVID-19 patients have not been systematically established.We searched for relevant studies cited in PubMed or Embase up to September 15, 2020, using the terms "COVID-19", "arrhythmia", "incidence", "mortality, " and "prognosis" with suitable MeSH terms.All studies were selected and reviewed by two reviewers (SCL and SCS).The final list of included studies and data extractions were derived through extensive discussion with agreement from both authors.Statistical analyses were performed using MedCalc (Windows) version 15.0 (MedCalc Software, Ostend, Belgium).Outcomes were reported as proportions with 95% confidence interval (CI), based on the random effects model.The heterogeneity among studies was detected by the Cochran Q test with p value and the I 2 statistic.
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Liao et al. (2020) conducted a meta-analysis in COVID-19 (n=17,435). COVID-19 was evaluated on Overall incidence of arrhythmia (95% CI 12.8-21.2). COVID-19 infection was associated with an overall arrhythmia incidence of 16.8%, and a 20.3% mortality rate among patients who developed arrhythmia.
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