The impact of metabolic syndrome and obesity on the evolution of diastolic dysfunction in apparently healthy patients suffering from post-COVID-19 syndrome
Description
Background: It was observed that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has a worse prognosis in individuals with obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS) who also develop commonly cardiovascular complications which last frequently during the recovery from the acute illness; (2) Methods: we followed-up the evolution of diastolic dysfunction (DD) assessed by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in 203 individuals with and without obesity and/or MS, diagnosed with post-COVID-19 syndrome; (3) Results: DD was diagnosed in 62.71% patients with MS and obesity, respectively in 56.6% of those with MS without obesity, in comparison to 21.97% of subjects without MS (p˂0.001). Almost half of the obese patients with MS had more severe DD (type 2 and 3). As for the evolution, the prevalence and severity of DD, particularly of type 1 and 2, decreased gradually after 6 months, in parallel with the improvement of symptoms, progress more evident in subjects without MS. DD of type 3 didn't show a significant reduction (p=0.47) suggesting irre-versible myocardial damages such as interstitial fibrosis. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that the number of MS factors, the severity of the initial pulmonary injury and protein-C levels could explain DD's evolution; (4) Conclusions: DD was commonly diagnosed in individuals with post-COVID-19 syndrome, particularly in those with MS and obesity. After 6 months, DD's evolution, excepting of type 3, showed a significant improvement, mostly in patients without MS. This study was done by the researchers from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Victor Babes" Timisoara.