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Review
. 2021 Feb 28;4(2):146-152.
doi: 10.1002/agm2.12149. eCollection 2021 Jun.

COVID-19 and cardiovascular problems in elderly patients: Food for thought

Raffaele Costa  1 , Alberto Castagna  2 , Giovanni Ruotolo  1
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 and cardiovascular problems in elderly patients: Food for thought

Raffaele Costa et al. Aging Med (Milton). .

Abstract

The global number of COVID-19 infections, as of December 23, 2020, stood at approximately 79 million, with over 1.7 million deaths. The development of vascular inflammation may also contribute to a hypercoagulable state and endothelial dysfunction in such patients. It is known that multi-organ damage is more likely in patients with sepsis if they develop coagulopathy and that inhibition of thrombin synthesis can have a positive impact in reducing mortality. In this review, we will focus on the protection of the most fragile groups of the population, such as the elderly. This segment of the population will be a key issue and probably of primary interest to all. Biomarkers appear to be extremely useful as an indicator of what is happening from a pathophysiological point of view in the heart, allowing us to better stratify the prognosis of our patients affected by COVID-19, especially in the most severe cases and those with comorbidities.

Keywords: COVID‐19; cardiovascular patients; elderly.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no competing interests.

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