Congenital heart disease does not entail an increased risk for severe COVID-19.

AIM

To analyse the risk of developing serious disease or death due to COVID-19 among patients who underwent heart surgery during childhood.

METHODS

A retrospective combined register and patient file study. We identified all individuals who had undergone surgery for congenital heart disease in childhood between 1994 and 2019 in our Local Surgical Register that covers half of the Swedish population. This effort was cross-tabulated with the diagnosis of COVID-19 entered in the National Register of Diagnoses in Sweden from 1 March 2020 to 1 March 2021. Severe disease was defined as treatment at an intensive care unit (ICU).

RESULTS

We identified 3950 individuals, and the median age at follow-up was 16 years (1-44). A total of 32 patients were diagnosed with COVID-19. Five of them were hospitalised for more than 2 days (5-32 days). Two adults required treatment at an ICU; both had additional comorbidity and one died. The corresponding number of ICU stays for this age range in Sweden was 2020 approximately 0.13/1000 person-years, reported from The Swedish Intensive Care Registry.

CONCLUSIONS

There was no increased rate of severe COVID-19 among individuals who had undergone surgery for congenital heart disease in childhood. Additional comorbidity is related to outcome.