A Causality Dilemma – Association of COVID-19 severity with 10-years risk of Cardiovascular Diseases in Western Indians

Background Relationship between COVID-19 and Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is complex which still lacks clarity on causality. Present study aimed to compare CVD risk of hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID patients. Methods Current cross-sectional study included, 943 participants reporting a history of RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 infection from Western India. After obtaining written consent, details of demographic, chronic disease history, anthropometric parameters were recorded and blood sugar, lipid, hs-CRP, NT-proBNP, QRISK score were assessed. Results Out of 943, 824 (85.6%) recovered with home isolation (group 1), whereas 119 (14.4%) participants required hospitalized (group 2). Demographic characteristics were comparable between the groups, however mean blood pressure and other anthropometric parameters were higher (p<0.05) in hospitalized patients as compared to their counterparts. Slightly greater proportion of new hypertensive (18.5% vs 16.5%) and diabetic (2.3% vs 1.2%) cases were reported in hospitalized patients. Mean blood sugar, lipids, hs-CRP and NT-proBNP were higher (p<0.05) in group 2. 10-years CVD risk was almost double in hospitalized patients as compared to home isolated patients (12.1±5.9% vs 6.2±2.6%; p<0.05). Conclusion The study clearly indicates that patients with history of severe COVID infection are prone to CVD and requires clinical attention, however causality between the two still needs further studies.