Association between positive serology for COVID-19 and chagas cardiomyopathy progression: The SaMi-Trop project

• Published in: Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
• Main Authors: Ariela Mota Ferreira, Léa Campos Oliveira-da Silva, Clareci Silva Cardoso, Cláudia Di Lorenzo Oliveira, Bruno Oliveira de Figueiredo Brito, Ana Luiza Bierrenbach, Ana Clara de Jesus Santos, Dardiane Santos Cruz, Sâmara Fernandes Leite, Andréia Brito Jesus, Renata Fiúza Damasceno, Maria Carmo Pereira Nunes, Israel Molina, Desirée Sant’ Anna Haikal, Ester Cerdeira Sabino, Antonio Luiz Pinho Ribeiro
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2024
• Subjects: Chagas disease; COVID-19; Disease progression; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic; sami
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2024.102745; https://doaj.org/article/8e17c837cde64ae5856bfff052741122

Background: Chagas Disease (CD) can cause Chagas cardiomyopathy. The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) also affects the cardiovascular system and may worsen Chagas cardiomyopathy. However, the cardiac evolution of patients with CD infected by COVID-19 is not known. Thus, the objective of this study is to assess, within one year, whether there was cardiac progression after COVID-19 in CD. Methods: Longitudinal study with CD patients. The outcome was cardiac progression, defined as the appearance of new major changes in the current ECG compared to the previous ECG considered from the comparison of electrocardiograms (ECGs) performed with an interval of one year. Positive Anti-SARS-CoV2 Serology was the independent variable of interest. For each analysis, a final multiple model was constructed, adjusted for sociodemographic, clinical, and pandemic-related characteristics. Results: Of the 404 individuals included, 22.8 % had positive serology for COVID-19 and 10.9 % had cardiac progression. In the final model, positive serology for COVID-19 was the only factor associated with cardiac progression in the group as a whole (OR = 2.65; 95 % CI = 1.27–5.53) and for new-onset cardiomyopathy in the group with normal previous ECG (OR = 3.50; 95 % CI = 1.21–10.13). Conclusion: Our study shows an association between COVID-19 and progression of Chagas cardiomyopathy, evaluated by repeated ECGs, suggesting that COVID-19 accelerated the natural history of CD.