PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

COVID-19 infections and outcomes in a live registry of heart failure patients across an integrated health care system.

  • César Caraballo,
  • Megan McCullough,
  • Michael A Fuery,
  • Fouad Chouairi,
  • Craig Keating,
  • Neal G Ravindra,
  • P Elliott Miller,
  • Maricar Malinis,
  • Nitu Kashyap,
  • Allen Hsiao,
  • F Perry Wilson,
  • Jeptha P Curtis,
  • Matthew Grant,
  • Eric J Velazquez,
  • Nihar R Desai,
  • Tariq Ahmad

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238829
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 9
p. e0238829

Abstract

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BackgroundPatients with comorbid conditions have a higher risk of mortality with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection, but the impact on heart failure patients living near a disease hotspot is unknown. Therefore, we sought to characterize the prevalence and outcomes of COVID-19 in a live registry of heart failure patients across an integrated health care system in Connecticut.MethodsIn this retrospective analysis, the Yale Heart Failure Registry (NCT04237701) that includes 26,703 patients with heart failure across a 6-hospital integrated health care system in Connecticut was queried on April 16th, 2020 for all patients tested for COVID-19. Sociodemographic and geospatial data as well as, clinical management, respiratory failure, and patient mortality were obtained via the real-time registry. Data on COVID-19 specific care was extracted by retrospective chart review.ResultsCOVID-19 testing was performed on 900 symptomatic patients, comprising 3.4% of the Yale Heart Failure Registry (N = 26,703). Overall, 206 (23%) were COVID- 19+. As compared to COVID-19-, these patients were more likely to be older, black, have hypertension, coronary artery disease, and were less likely to be on renin angiotensin blockers (PConclusionsIn this real-world snapshot of COVID-19 infection among a large cohort of heart failure patients, we found that a small proportion had undergone testing. Patients found to be COVID-19+ tended to be black with multiple comorbidities and clustered around lower socioeconomic status communities. Elderly COVID-19+ patients were very likely to be admitted to the hospital and experience high rates of mortality.