Abstract

Late in 2019 a newly discovered coronavirus appeared in China. Later, this coronavirus was called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARC-CoV-2). Infection with this virus leads to a clinical condition known as coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID-19). As of 20th December 2020, the highly contagious virus has spread worldwide with more than 78 million positive cases and 1.7 million confirmed deaths. Presently there is no medication to cure COVID-19 due to the lack of knowledge of the pathophysiology of this clinical disorder. As a result, extensive work has to be done to reveal its pathophysiology. Although COVID‐19 clinical manifestations are mostly pulmonary, major cardiovascular complications have been described. Studies revealed that COVID-19 exacerbates the clinical conditions in patients with cardiovascular diseases. The mortality rate due to COVID-19 is significantly associated with comorbidity especially those with preexisting cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular abnormalities are not only prevalent but also predictive. Several cardiovascular diseases have been observed in patients with COVID-19 such as cardiac injury, arrhythmia, heart failure, endothelial inflammation, coronary artery disease and thrombosis. This review article presents evidence that COVID-19 is associated with cardiopathy, vasculopathy and coagulopathy.

Keywords

COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Cardiovascular; Cardiac Injury; Arrhythmia; Heart Failure; Endothelial Cells; Thrombosis

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