Left Ventricular Assessment in the Pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 eras at the Jos University Teaching Hospital

Abstract

The covid19 pandemic in the developing world had a far less catastrophic effect compared to that seen in the developed world. Taking a look at pre-covid19 era considering some echocardiographic parameters, left ventricular configuration was assessed. Method and Materials: The study was a retrospective echocardiographic assessment of regular patients assessing echocardiographic evaluation without necessarily diagnosed of covid19. Kobotoolbox data collector was used for data upload and data from 2015 to 2019 were considered pre-covid19 data while those from 2020 to 2023 were considered covid19 era data and analyzed as such. Results: Out of a total of 1,619, an average of 64% were analyzed by the collector. The two groups of population were similar considering demographic characteristic. Clinical indications pre-test had a similar distribution except in cases of dilated cardiomyopathy (p- <0.001) and stroke (p- 0.044) were the proportion were higher in pre-covd19 while chronic arrhythmias (p- 0.032) were higher during the covid19 era. The data showed a significant reduction in linear and 2D echocardiographic measurements, except for wall thickness in systole in pre-covi19 era. Discussion: The high frequency of hypertensive heart disease during the pre-covid19 era appear to be responsible for the significant variation in the 2D and linear echocardiographic measurement. Conclusions: This study showed that the indication for echocardiography was more diverse in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.