Text to Speach Symbol
RSS Logo
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust logo

UHBW NHS

UHBW part of national study into COVID-19 heart muscle damage

Last updated: 20/10/2020

Researchers at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW) and the University of Bristol are taking part in a national study which aims to uncover why some COVID-19 patients in hospital have heart muscle damage, and how this can be diagnosed more easily.

BHI Atrium

Blood tests show signs of heart muscle injury in up to one in five patients hospitalised by COVID-19.

Using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the heart, researchers are investigating how often, and in what way, the heart becomes damaged, and how it recovers six months later. They are looking at how this damage and recovery is affected by age, sex, ethnicity, and medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and narrowing of blood vessels.

Researchers also want to see if they can improve the diagnosis of viral heart damage from a simple electrocardiogram (ECG) that can be used to check the heart's rhythm and electrical activity. This procedure could save patients from having invasive heart tests which can be uncomfortable and carry a small risk of serious complications. 

COVID Heart study co-investigator Dr Chiara Bucciarelli-Ducci is a consultant cadiologist at the Bristol Heart Institute, consultant senior lecturer in Cardiology at the University of Bristol and leads the Cardiac MRI Unit of the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre. She said:

“As the pandemic unfolds, research is establishing how demographics, genetics and certain medical conditions – including heart conditions – can be risk factors for mortality.

“Whilst blood tests show that up to one in five of hospitalised COVID-19 patients may have cardiac injury, these results could be due to a number of different conditions. As a cardiovascular MRI can make a specific diagnosis, it will help us to answer some of the clinical questions we have about COVID-19 and heart damage, while also helping to improve care for patients during their illness and as they recover.”

The 12-month COVID Heart study, led by the University of Leeds, forms one of six flagship research programmes funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), which aim to improve care for people with heart and circulatory disease suffering from COVID-19. Find out more about all six NIHR-BHF Flagship Research Programmes.