COVID-19 patients with heart disease at risk for complications, deathA meta-analysis by Italian researchers published late last week in PLOS One shows that COVID-19 patients who have or are at risk for cardiovascular disease are more likely than others to develop cardiovascular complications and die from their infections.Researchers analyzed data from 21 published observational studies involving 77,317 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
At hospital admission, 12.9% of the patients had cardiovascular conditions, 36.1% had high blood pressure, 33.8% were obese, 19.5% had diabetes, and 10.7% were smokers.