3.2. Cardiopulmonary complications
It was found that the median B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level was higher in the NOAF positive group compared to the NOAF negative group (366 [112–850] vs. 96 [41–277] pg/mL, respectively, p = 0.001). The BNP levels of 114 (46.0%) patients were >100 pg/mL, which is the upper limit of normal range, and the proportion of NOAF positives was higher than the rate of NOAF negatives (64.9%, vs. 42.7%, respectively; p = 0.003). The median level for HS troponin I was higher in the NOAF positive group than the NOAF negative group (78.0 [17.9–325.0] vs 27.0 [9.7–118.0] ng/L respectively, p = 0.02).
Cardiac injury was detected in 159 (64.1%) patients. Although the rate for cardiac injury was higher in the NOAF positive group than the NOAF negative group it did not reach a statistical significance (75.7%, vs. 62.1%, respectively; p = 0.13). Acute myocardial infarction was detected in 10 patients (4.0%) after the COVID-19 diagnosis. None of these patients had NOAF. Pulmonary embolism (PE) was detected in 6 patients (2.4%) after the COVID-19 diagnosis. It was shown that the incidental PE rate was higher in the NOAF positive group than the NOAF negative group (8.1% vs. 1.4%, respectively; p = 0.045). All the PE attacks were diagnosed before the NOAF attack.