ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC FOLLOW-UP OF PATIENTS RECOVERED FROM COVID-19 INFECTION. A CASECONTROL STUDY IN SULAIMANI CITY

Volume 14 , Issue 3 , June 2024 , Pages 263-269

Authors

Dler Shamsulddin Hamid 1

1 Department of Clinical Science, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

DOI logo 10.17656/jsmc.10473

Keywords

Abstract

Background
Electrocardiography (ECG) is one of the simplest, informative and valuable method to assess cardiac
abnormalities associated with different illnesses especially during acute viral infections. The role of ECG
was confirmed during previous pandemics in identifying various cardiac abnormalities. During covid-19
pandemic cardiac problems was of special concern, it appeared as second cause of mortality and morbidity
after respiratory system complications
Objectives
To identify ECG abnormalities after recovery from mild to moderate SARS-COV-2 infection.
Materials and Methods
This preliminary case control study was conducted over a period of eight months from February 2021-
December 2021 in the Internal Teaching Hospital and private clinic sector in Sulaimani city- Iraq. The study
recruited 163 patients recovered from mild to moderate covid-19 disease and was compared to 100 matched
control non infected group. Patients with severe covid-19 disease, history of heart failure and those with cardiac
electrical conduction diseases were excluded from the study. Following ECG parameters were assessed among
studied groups: heart rate (HR), P-R interval, R-R interval, QRS dispersion, corrected QT (QTc) and any sort
of ST change. Evidence and types of arrhythmias were taken into account.
Results
The mean age ± SD (standard deviation) of participants were (48.98 ± 13.7 SD). Regarding gender distribution,
ninety-nine (99/163) of the studied cases were female (60.7%) while 64 (64/163) (39.3%) were male. Majority of
studied group were cigarette smoker (122/163 vs 41/163) and only 6.1% of them were regular alcohol drinker.
The study demonstrated a significantly shorter QRS dispersion among recovered group compared to the
control group (15.38 ± 8.29 SD vs 17.94 ± 11.9 SD) with a P- value of 0.04. Additionally, the mean corrected
QT interval (QTc) was significantly lower in covid-19 recovered group compared with control group with Pvalue of <0.001 (406.94 vs 440.77). Meanwhile, no statistically significant changes were noted in P-R interval,
R-R interval, heart rate, ST segment changes and any kind of arrhythmias between the studied and controlled
groups.
Conclusion
This study concluded that three months after recovery from mild to moderate SARS-COV-2 infection did not
demonstrate significant remanent changes compared to non-infected control group.

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  • Published at21 June 2024

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