Electrocardiogram (ECG) changes in working people with and without history of COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the greatest focus was on the respiratory system, but recently awareness has increased about the cardiovascular manifestations of the COVID-19 disease and the adverse effect of cardiovascular involvement on its prognosis. Since so far no comprehensive study has investigated electrocardiogram changes in patients with COVID-19 in Iran, the purpose of this study is to assess electrocardiogram changes in adults aged 20-70 with and without a history of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: The current study was a cohort study conducted on two groups of working people with a history of COVID-19 and controls without a history of COVID-19. The case and control subjects were selected randomly from the participants of the Yazd Health study and the Shahdieh cohort study. ECG was taken from both groups before and after Covid-19 and then QTc interval and ST segment measurements were recorded and interpreted. Results: In the present study, 77 patients including 45 patients with COVID-19 (58.4%) and 32 non-COVID-19 patients (41.6%) were selected. Heart rate/min before and after COVID-19 was 69.08±10.89 and 73.5±14.05, respectively (P<0.01). There was a non-significant difference before and after COVID-19 in terms of QTi, and QTc (P>0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, COVID-19 disease is associated with a change in heart rate in the two studies' participants, but no effect was observed on the parameters of QTi, and QTC. Therefore, it seems that echocardiography is not necessary in patients with COVID-19.