Abstract 14645: Progression of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction in Hospitalized COVID19 Patients With New Onset Cardiomyopathy

Introduction: New-onset cardiomyopathy (NOC) has been seen in hospitalized patients with COVID19 infection. Such NOC was associated with increased 30-day mortality. Long-term follow-up to assess the reversibility of such cardiomyopathy is lacking. We studied the follow-up echocardiograms in such patients and assessed the reversibility of their cardiomyopathy. Methods: We reviewed all cases of hospitalized COVID19 patients from the Cleveland Clinic COVID19 registry from 18 th March, 2020 to 18 th May, 2021. Patients who received an in-hospital echocardiogram and had echocardiogram prior to and post COVID19 hospitalization were selected for the study. NOC was defined as a reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of > 10% with a new LVEF of < 53%. Cardiomyopathy was considered reversible if the follow-up echocardiogram showed an improvement in LVEF, with new LVEF >53%. The mean interval between the in-hospital and follow-up echocardiogram was 5.6 months. Results: Of the 1537 hospitalized COVID19 patients receiving echocardiogram, 907 had a prior echocardiogram, of which 77 (8.5%) had NOC. Patients with NOC were significantly more likely to be females and have chronic kidney disease. Of the 77 patients with NOC, 35 (45.5%) had follow-up echocardiograms. Of these, only 13 (37.1%) had reversible cardiomyopathy while 22 (62.9%) had persistently decreased LVEF. Conclusions: Our study highlights the lack of follow-up echocardiograms for patients with NOC and a persistence in decreased left ventricular systolic function in those that received one. All patients with NOC and COVID19 infection should receive follow-up echocardiography to guide their management.