Long COVID-19 Cardiac Complications Are Associated With Autoimmunity to Cardiac Self-Antigens Sufficient to Cause Cardiac Dysfunction
M. Cremonesi, Arianna Felicetta, F. Cannata, Simone Serio, Jasper J. P. van Beek, Sara Bombace, Ilaria My, Veronica Zanon, C Catalano, Vasiliki Papadopoulou, Lorenzo Monti, Mauro Chiarito, Giulio Stefanini, Cristina Panico, Marco Francone, Enrico Lugli, Marinos Kallikourdis, Gianluigi Condorelli
Abstract
oronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to extensive morbidity and mortality. Attention is shifting to long-term effects persisting after acute infection, termed long/post-COVID-19, including cardiac sequelae. 1 Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) abnormality is present at 6-month follow-up in half of patients recovered from COVID-19 with in-hospital high-sensitivity troponin elevation. 2 Lack of preinfection data renders it hard to exclude causality from pre-existing conditions, rather than infection sequelae. Yet larger studies show increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease in the year after COVID-19,