Association between electrolyte supplementation and cardiac injury in long COVID-19

Association between electrolyte supplementation and cardiac injury in long COVID-19

Xida Li, Lanfang Wu, Shuo Sun, Haojian Dong, Jianfang Luo

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Objective
This study aimed to investigate the association between electrolyte supplementation and cardiac injury in long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods
This retrospective study was conducted at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital Zhuhai Hospital, Zhuhai City, China, utilizing data from patients with cardiac injury related to long COVID-19 who were admitted and managed between January 2021 and January 2023. The patients were grouped according to electrolyte supplementation (supplementation group) or no supplementation (control group). The outcomes included heart rate variability (HRV) parameters, the Minnesota Heart Failure Quality of Life questionnaire, and numerical rating scale (NRS) assessments of quality of life.

Results
A total of 144 patients with cardiac injury related to long COVID-19 were included in the analysis (supplementation group, n = 72; control group, n = 72).

After adjusting for age, sex, creatinine, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein, multivariable linear regression analysis indicated a significant association between supplementation and increased levels of potassium (β=1.3, 95% CI: 1.1-1.5, P=0.001) and magnesium (β=0.18, 95% CI: 0.07-0.09, P=0.001), as well as improvements in HRV parameters, including standard deviation of normal-to-normal RR intervals over 24 hours, root mean square of successive differences, and HF/LF (all P <0.05).

Additionally, supplementation correlated with a reduced frequency of premature contractions (β=-5.61, 95% CI: -3.72 to -7.50, P=0.01), lower Minnesota scores (β=-6.7, 95% CI: -4.3 to -9.1, P=0.001), and decreased NRS scores (β=-7.2, 95% CI: -6.5 to -7.9, P=0.01).

Electrolyte supplementation may be beneficial in managing cardiac injury associated with long COVID-19. Further research is needed to clarify the role of electrolytes in cardiac injury related to long COVID-19 and to explore management strategies that incorporate electrolyte supplementation.

Link (Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine) [Provisionally accepted, abstract only right now]

 

Something about the wording of the title of this piece was leading me by the nose to assume that electrolytes were bad for people with cardiac injury or caused cardiac injury. But in fact they might be beneficial.

Electrolyte supplementation may be beneficial in managing cardiac injury associated with long COVID-19. Further research is needed to clarify the role of electrolytes in cardiac injury related to long COVID-19 and to explore management strategies that incorporate electrolyte supplementation.