Cardiovascular considerations for patients with COVID-19 and candidate
drugs against SARS-CoV-2
Abstract
The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious respiratory
disease attributed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2), which has rapidly spread globally leading to a pandemic.
Frequently, COVID-19 contributes to multiple cardiovascular diseases
(CVD) including acute myocardial injury, myocarditis, arrhythmias and
thromboembolism, due to excessive inflammation and endothelial
dysfunction. Moreover, a large proportion of affected patients,
especially for elderly patients have been reported to pre-exist
comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes and CVD. However, although
some antiviral drugs targeted SARS-CoV-2 have been applied to clinical
trial, a few of these investigational agents are associated with excess
risk for cardiovascular events in prior studies of non-COVID-19
populations. The objective of this document is to introduce the
cardiovascular complications caused by COVID-19 and related
investigational therapies, as well as the potential consequences in
patients with antiviral drugs and cardiovascular drugs, and then provide
recommendations for a systematic approach on the care of patients with
CVD during COVID-19 pandemic.