Immunosuppression and cardiovascular dysfunction in patients with severe versus mild coronavirus disease 2019: a case series

• Published in: Clinical & Translational Immunology 2020, Vol.9 (10), p.e1188-n/a
• Main Authors: Bao, Hejing, Li, Gang, Fang, Yinhua, Lai, Qin, Bao, Hehong, Zheng, Yu, Hu, Yanjun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Atrophy; Cardiovascular disease; cardiovascular dysfunction; Computed tomography; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Creatine; Creatine kinase; Diabetes; Disease transmission; Fever; Hospitals; immunology; Immunosuppression; immunotherapy; Lymphocytes; Lymphopenia; Original; Peripheral blood; Pneumonia; SARS‐CoV‐2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Spleen; Tachycardia; Ventilators
• ISSN: 2050-0068; 2050-0068
• DOI: 10.1002/cti2.1188

Objectives As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) continues to spread globally, we aimed to describe and compare changes in the immune and cardiovascular systems of patients with mild versus severe COVID‐19 at different time points during the course of disease. Methods One hundred and one patients diagnosed with COVID‐19 who underwent serial peripheral blood collection and chest computed tomography (CT) imaging were enrolled in this study and grouped by the severity of their illness. Changes in the immune and cardiovascular systems were analysed and compared between groups. Results The study included 43 women and 58 men, with a median age of 45 years (interquartile range [IQR], 16–71). We identified spleen shrinkage in 27.7% of study patients. Ratios of spleen volume to patient (skin) volume were compared, with evidence that severe patients had more splenic shrinkage than mild patients. Lymphopenia was observed in 65.3% of patients, and 27.3% of patients had persistently low levels of lymphocytes after discharge. Tachycardia occurred mainly during the first 2 days of hospitalisation, with increases in creatine kinase–myocardial band levels in 10 (9.9%) patients and arrhythmias in 16 (15.8%) patients. Conclusions In addition to pulmonary manifestations, our study demonstrated that other organ systems can also be affected during COVID‐19 infection, with evidence of immunosuppression and cardiovascular dysfunction, which may contribute to increased mortality rates in critically ill COVID‐19 patients. In addition to pulmonary manifestations, our study demonstrated that other organ systems can also be affected during COVID‐19 infection. The injuries in COVID‐19 patients could lead to immunosuppression and cardiovascular dysfunction, which might contribute to increased mortality in critically ill patients.