• Vincenzo Russo, Stefano Albani, Alfredo Caturano, Sara Hana Weisz, Valentina Parisi, Maddalena Conte, Lorenzo Zaccaro, Antonello D'Andrea, Ahmed Al-Turky, Michal Marchel, Marco Marano, Ferdinando Carlo Sasso, and Emilio Attena.
• Division of Cardiology, Department of Translational Medical Sciences, Monaldi and Cotugno Hospital, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Naples, Italy.
• Eur. J. Clin. Invest. 2022 Aug 1; 52 (8): e13781.

IntroductionSome abnormal electrocardiographic findings were independently associated with increased mortality in patients admitted for COVID-19; however, no studies have focussed on the prognosis impact of the interatrial block (IAB) in this clinical setting. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence and clinical implications of IAB, both partial and advanced, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.MaterialsWe retrospectively evaluated 300 consecutive COVID-19 patients (63.22 ± 15.16 years; 70% males) admitted to eight Italian Hospitals from February 2020 to April 2020 who underwent twelve lead electrocardiographic recording at admission. The study population has been dichotomized into two groups according to the evidence of IAB at admission, both partial and advanced. The differences in terms of ARDS in need of intubation, in-hospital mortality and thromboembolic events (a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke and transient ischaemic attack) have been evaluated.ResultsThe presence of IAB was noticed in 64 patients (21%). In the adjusted logistic regression model, the partial interatrial block was found to be an independent predictor of ARDS in need of intubation (HR: 1.92; p: .04) and in-hospital mortality (HR: 2.65; p: .02); moreover, the advanced interatrial block was an independent predictor of thrombotic events (HR: 7.14; p < .001).ConclusionsAmong COVID-19 patients hospitalized in medical wards, the presence of interatrial block is more frequent than in the general population and it might be useful as an early predictor for increased risk of incident thrombotic events, ARDS in need of intubation and in-hospital mortality.© 2022 The Authors. European Journal of Clinical Investigation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Stichting European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal Foundation.

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