Cardiac Biomarkers in COVID-19: A Narrative Review

Giuseppe Lippi; Fabian Sanchis-Gomar; Brandon Michael Henry; Carl J Lavie

Cardiac Biomarkers in COVID-19: A Narrative Review

EJIFCC. 2021 Oct 18;32(3):337-346. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Authors

Giuseppe Lippi¹, Fabian Sanchis-Gomar², Brandon Michael Henry³, Carl J Lavie⁴

Affiliations

¹ Section of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
² University of Valencia and INCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute, Valencia, Spain.
³ The Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.
⁴ John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School - The University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.

PMID: 34819823
PMCID: PMC8592630

Abstract

The diagnosis and risk stratification of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is primarily based on discretionary use of laboratory resources. Several lines of evidence now attest that cardiovascular disease not only is a frequent complication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but its pre-existence may increase the risk of morbidity, disability, and death in patients with COVID-19. To this end, routine assessment of biomarkers of cardiac injury (i.e., cardiac troponin I or T) and dysfunction (e.g., natriuretic peptides) has emerged as an almost essential practice in patients with moderate, severe, and critical COVID-19 illness. Therefore, this narrative review aims to provide an overview of cardiac involvement in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as the clinical background for including cardiac biomarkers within specific panels of laboratory tests for managing COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cardiac biomarkers; cardiac troponin; natriuretic peptides.

Publication types

Review