Arrhythmic Manifestations and Management in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and the resulting respiratory tract infection (Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19) is a pandemic with over 3 million cases globally and resulting in >230,000 deaths at the time of this writing. From initial reports in Wuhan, China, viral progression resulted in over 80,000 cases in January/February 2020 in China. The following global spread has involved more than 210 countries. Unfortunately, the United States has been significantly affected, with over 1 million confirmed cases and over 60,000 deaths, the highest in the world. As this global pandemic continues to rage, cardiovascular, especially arrhythmic manifestations associated with COVID-19 have become evident. A recent report from Wuhan, China, noted that 16.7% of hospitalized and 44.4% of ICU patients with COVID-19 had arrhythmias. Although arrhythmias appear to be common in COVID-19 patients, arrhythmia mechanisms and characteristics, predisposing factors, incidence of sudden cardiac death and predictors, therapeutic strategies employed as well as long term outcomes are not well understood. Hence, we seek to develop a multicenter registry aimed to characterize arrhythmic manifestations, employed treatment strategies and long-term outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the US.