Ata Fateen, Montoro-Lopez Maria Nieves, Awouda Samah, Elsukkar Abdallah M Abu, Badr Amr Mohamed Hamed, Patel Ashfaq Ahmad Abdul Hamid
Department of Internal Medicine, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
Heart Views. 2020 Jul-Sep;21(3):187-192. doi: 10.4103/HEARTVIEWS.HEARTVIEWS_122_20. Epub 2020 Oct 13.
Patients with chronic heart failure (HF) are among the most vulnerable populations in the COVID era. HF patients infected with COVID-19 are at a significant risk of severe illness and death. They usually present with shortness of breath and radiologic signs of an acute decompensation, which can mask the manifestations of COVID-19. Delay in the diagnosis increases the risk of individual poor outcomes and jeopardizes healthcare workers if protective and isolation measures are not established promptly. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing health-care systems to modify the delivery of care to patients. Outpatient services are being done virtually, and elective procedures postponed. These may have an impact on the quality of life and survival of chronic HF patients. We present two cases of patients with the previous history of HF who developed an acute exacerbation secondary to COVID-19 infection. In this review, we focused on the main challenges physicians face when dealing with COVID-19 in chronic HF patients at the individual and system levels.
慢性心力衰竭（HF）患者是新冠疫情时代最脆弱的人群之一。感染新冠病毒的HF患者面临着严重疾病和死亡的重大风险。他们通常表现为呼吸急促和急性失代偿的放射学征象，这可能掩盖新冠病毒感染的表现。诊断延迟会增加个体不良结局的风险，如果不及时采取防护和隔离措施，还会危及医护人员。此外，新冠疫情正在迫使医疗保健系统改变对患者的护理方式。门诊服务改为线上进行，择期手术推迟。这些可能会对慢性HF患者的生活质量和生存产生影响。我们介绍两例有HF病史的患者，他们因新冠病毒感染继发急性加重。在本综述中，我们重点关注医生在个体和系统层面处理慢性HF患者新冠病毒感染时面临的主要挑战。
