UCLA

AbstractBackground: Clinical management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) requires understanding of the virus. Heart failure (HF) patients infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk for worse outcomes compared to those with no HF diagnosis. There is a critical gap in the scientific knowledge on COVID-19 outcomes and clinical management among HF patients. The physiological effects of COVID-19 among HF patients are still largely unknown. There is also a gap in the identification and clinical management of long COVID among HF patients. Aims. The following research questions were explored: What are the outcomes seen from COVID-19 among HF patients? Is there a difference in prehospital clinical biomarker, NYHA classification and clinical outcome (mortality, hospital length of stay (LOS), and readmission) among HF patients with and without COVID-19? Is there a difference in prehospital clinical biomarkers, NYHA classification, and clinical outcome (mortality, hospital LOS, and readmission) among HF patients with and without long COVID-19? Can prehospital clinical biomarkers and NYHA classification predict the development of long COVID among HF patients? Aim 1 is a review of the literature on the effects of the COVID-19 virus among HF population. Aim 2 compared the prehospital clinical biomarker, NYHA classification, and clinical outcomes (mortality, hospital LOS, and readmission) among HF patients with and without COVID-19. Aim 3 compared the prehospital clinical biomarker, NYHA classification, and clinical outcome among HF patients with and without long COVID and explored any predictive variables. Methods. A retrospective electronic health record (EHR) review was conducted to answer the research questions. Only HF patients were included in the study and prehospital clinical biomarker as well as NYHA classification were utilized to assess differences among those with and without COVID-19 and to make predictions on the development of long COVID. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results. Two hundred adult HF patients with hospitalization between January 2020 and December 2023 (n=100) and without COVID-19 (n=100) were included in the study. Prehospital BNP (p=0.006) and mortality (p=0.03) showed significantly higher rates in the HF group without COVID-19. Prehospital BNP was the only marker predictive of mortality (p=0.029). There were no statistically significant differences in NYHA class data. Among HF patients with and without long COVID, there was no statistically significant difference in clinical biomarkers, NYHA classification, and clinical outcome data. No variable was predictive of developing long COVID. Conclusions. Prehospital biomarkers and NYHA data do little to explain the risk of patients infected with COVID-19. There was no association with long COVID.