ECG characteristics associated with adverse outcomes in COVID-19, a tertiary centre experience

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background COVID-19 is a systemic disease with dominantly respiratory symptoms, however numerous other presentations involving practically any organ system have been described. Older patients and those with other comorbidities are at higher risk for critical COVID, increased respiratory requirements and death. (1) Those with cardiovascular comorbidities seem to be at a particular risk of detrimental outcomes. (2) Purpose The aim of our research was to see if certain ECG characteristics at admission could be predictive of unfavourable events in severe and critical COVID-19 patients. Methods We analyzed patient data and available ECG records at admission for 1752 consecutively hospitalized patients with severe and critical COVID-19 at our institution from March 2020 to June 2021. ECG records were obtained from our institution's medical archives, while patient data and outcomes were analyzed through electronic medical records. We analyzed the available ECGs recorded at admission for rhythm abnormalities, heart rate, ST segment changes, presence and localisation of Q waves, interventricular conduction abnormalities, AV conduction, PR, QRS and QTc interval duration, P, QRS and T wave axis, QRS-T angle and Sokolow-Lyon hypertrophy criteria. We defined primary outcomes as mechanical ventilation requirement and intrahospital death. Results Our results show that patients who required mechanical ventilation were significantly (P