Diagnostic utility of electrocardiogram for screening of cardiac injury on cardiac magnetic resonance in post-hospitalised COVID-19 patients: a prospective multicenter study

Azlan Helmy Abd Samat, Mark P. Cassar, Abid M. Akhtar, Celeste McCracken, Zakariye M. Ashkir, Rebecca Mills, Alastair J. Moss, Lucy E.M. Finnigan, Adam J. Lewandowski, Masliza Mahmod, Godwin I. Ogbole, Elizabeth M. Tunnicliffe, Elena Lukaschuk, Stefan K. Piechnik, Vanessa M. Ferreira, Chrysovalantou Nikolaidou, Najib M. Rahman, Ling Pei Ho, Victoria C. Harris, Amisha SingapuriCharlotte Manisty, Declan P. O'Regan, Jonathan R. Weir-McCall, Richard P. Steeds, Krisnah Poinasamy, Dan J. Cuthbertson, Graham J. Kemp, Alexander Horsley, Christopher A. Miller, Caitlin O'Brien, Amedeo Chiribiri, Susan T. Francis, James D. Chalmers, Sven Plein, Ana Maria Poener, James M. Wild, Thomas A. Treibel, Michael Marks, Mark Toshner, Louise V. Wain, Rachael A. Evans, Christopher E. Brightling, Stefan Neubauer, Gerry P. McCann, Betty Raman (Lead / Corresponding author),

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background 

The role of ECG in ruling out myocardial complications on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is unclear. We examined the clinical utility of ECG in screening for cardiac abnormalities on CMR among post-hospitalised COVID-19 patients. 

Methods 

Post-hospitalised patients (n = 212) and age, sex and comorbidity-matched controls (n = 38) underwent CMR and 12‑lead ECG in a prospective multicenter follow-up study. Participants were screened for routinely reported ECG abnormalities, including arrhythmia, conduction and R wave abnormalities and ST-T changes (excluding repolarisation intervals). Quantitative repolarisation analyses included corrected QT (QTc), corrected QT dispersion (QTc disp), corrected JT (JTc) and corrected T peak-end (cTPe) intervals. 

Results 

At a median of 5.6 months, patients had a higher burden of ECG abnormalities (72.2% vs controls 42.1%, p = 0.001) and lower LVEF but a comparable cumulative burden of CMR abnormalities than controls. Patients with CMR abnormalities had more ECG abnormalities and longer repolarisation intervals than those with normal CMR and controls (82% vs 69% vs 42%, p < 0.001). Routinely reported ECG abnormalities had poor discriminative ability (area-under-the-receiver-operating curve: AUROC) for abnormal CMR, AUROC 0.56 (95% CI 0.47–0.65), p = 0.185; worse among female than male patients. Adding JTc and QTc disp improved the AUROC to 0.64 (95% CI 0.55–0.74), p = 0.002, the sensitivity of the ECG increased from 81.6% to 98.0%, negative predictive value from 84.7% to 96.3%, negative likelihood ratio from 0.60 to 0.13, and reduced sex-dependence variabilities of ECG diagnostic parameters. 

Conclusion 

Post-hospitalised COVID-19 patients have more ECG abnormalities than controls. Normal ECGs, including normal repolarisation intervals, reliably exclude CMR abnormalities in male and female patients.

Original languageEnglish
Article number132415
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Journal of Cardiology
Volume415
Early online date23 Aug 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Nov 2024

Keywords

  • CMR
  • ECG
  • Electrocardiogram
  • Repolarisation
  • SARS-CoV-2

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Diagnostic utility of electrocardiogram for screening of cardiac injury on cardiac magnetic resonance in post-hospitalised COVID-19 patients: a prospective multicenter study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this