Conclusions
The current study found that the incidence rate of any ventricular arrhythmia during the first 45 days of COVID-19 epidemic outbreak was 9.9% and only a minority of patients required therapy from ICD. There was no evidence of a significant increase in the arrhythmic burden during the study period if compared to the same period in previous year. The main predictor of arrhythmic events was previous history of any device therapy, especially within the previous 12 months. The present study provides an important contribution to knowledge of the impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health, and specifically cardiac arrhythmias, among patients with a history of heart disease.
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Figure legend Figure 1: The diagram shows the study population’s selection process; ICD: Implantable cardioverter defibrillator; CRTD: Cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator; S-ICD: Subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator; PPM : Permanent pace-maker; CRTP: Cardiac resynchronization therapy- pace-maker; ICM: implantable cardiac monitor. Figure 2: Incidence rates (percentages) of ventricular arrhythmias and ICD therapy among study population and reference population; VA – Ventricular Arrhythmias, VT – Ventricular tachycardia, VF – Ventricular Fibrillation, ATP – Anti-Tachycardia Pacing.
Figure 1