Cardiovascular patients can become seriously ill from coronavirus and are significantly more likely to die from it. COVID-19 can also cause heart disease in people who were previously healthy. Better treatment requires the exchange of information between hospitals as soon as possible. To make that possible, cardiologists together with partners of the Dutch CardioVascular Alliance have set up a registry: the CAPACITY COVID Registry. Of the 71 Dutch hospitals, 36 have already expressed interest in participating. There is also international interest in the registry.
The best treatment for patients with COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease has not yet been found, and the effects of COVID-19 treatment on the cardiovascular system are not yet known. In many cardiovascular patients, COVID-19 disease progresses more severely than in healthy people.
In addition, cardiologists see various complications, such as heart failure or inflammation of the heart muscle. It is also still unknown whether commonly prescribed cardiovascular medications, such as ACE inhibitors, increase the risk of infection or a more severe course of COVID-19 and whether medications against the virus can be harmful to the heart and vessels.
The cardiovascular field is joining forces to improve the treatment of this group of vulnerable patients as soon as possible. By registering data from as many patients as possible, including medication use and the course of the disease.
Initiator Prof. Dr. Folkert Asselbergs (University Medical Center Utrecht and Dutch CardioVascular Alliance): “To be able to better treat patients with cardiovascular diseases and COVID-19, there is an urgent need to learn from patients who are now or will soon be in hospital. We realize that the utmost is already being asked of care. We are trying to make this registration as simple as possible and hope in this way to quickly improve care for patients with the life-threatening combination of cardiovascular disease and COVID-19.”
The WHO (World Health Organization) has established a general registry of all COVID-19 patients. The Dutch CardioVascular Alliance has supplemented that with a registration for cardiovascular diseases, including test results, complications and medications used. By analyzing this data, doctors can gain more knowledge about the best treatment in the short term. In the long term, this registration provides opportunities to be better prepared for new outbreaks. The plan is to link the registration to the Dutch Heart Registry (NHR), so that doctors can follow how the patient is doing even after discharge from the hospital.
The DCVA calls on hospitals, physicians and researchers to join this initiative as soon as possible, if possible, and to register online at the CAPACITY COVID Registry website. Treaters of patients with COVID-19 will find the information needed to enable registration from their hospital here. Researchers can help register and analyze data and make research proposals. Learn more on the DCVA website.
This initiative is part of a large partnership between the Dutch Heart Foundation and fourteen other organizations in cardiovascular research: the Dutch CardioVascular Alliance (DCVA). We work together and raise money to accelerate solutions for cardiovascular disease.
