tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Curr Cardiol Rev
. 2020 Jul 31.
doi: 10.2174/1573403X16666200731162614. Online ahead of print.
The Deadly Quartet (Covid-19, old age, lung disease, and heart failure) explain why coronavirus-related mortality in northern Italy was so high
Giuseppe Calcaterra[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Pier Paolo Bassareo[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Francesco Barilla[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Domenico Sergi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Marcello Chiocchi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Francesco Romeo[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Jawahar L Mehta[SUP] 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Since its outbreak in China at the end of 2019, the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was characterized by both easy spreading and high mortality. The latter proved to be way more elevated in the North of Italy -with a peak of 18.4% in region Lombardia and even 31% in the city of Bergamo and surrounding county- than in the rest of the world. In an attempt of conceptualizing the reasons for a so dramatic situation, four key elements have been identified: COVID-19 itself, old age, lung disease, and heart failure. Their harmful combination has been named "The deadly quartet". The underlying risk factors, of whom a lot of them are distinctive features of the population in northern Italy, have been summarized in "unmodifiable", "partially modifiable", and "modifiable", for the sake of clarity. Up-to-date scientific evidence in this field was described in the form of a narrative and easy-to-read review.
Keywords: COVID-19; Italy; coronavirus; heart Earth's oldest material is older than earth Pandemic changes the course of human history -Anonymous Scientist and Philosopher; lung; mortality.
. 2020 Jul 31.
doi: 10.2174/1573403X16666200731162614. Online ahead of print.
The Deadly Quartet (Covid-19, old age, lung disease, and heart failure) explain why coronavirus-related mortality in northern Italy was so high
Giuseppe Calcaterra[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Pier Paolo Bassareo[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Francesco Barilla[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Domenico Sergi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Marcello Chiocchi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Francesco Romeo[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Jawahar L Mehta[SUP] 5 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 32735524
- DOI: 10.2174/1573403X16666200731162614
Abstract
Since its outbreak in China at the end of 2019, the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was characterized by both easy spreading and high mortality. The latter proved to be way more elevated in the North of Italy -with a peak of 18.4% in region Lombardia and even 31% in the city of Bergamo and surrounding county- than in the rest of the world. In an attempt of conceptualizing the reasons for a so dramatic situation, four key elements have been identified: COVID-19 itself, old age, lung disease, and heart failure. Their harmful combination has been named "The deadly quartet". The underlying risk factors, of whom a lot of them are distinctive features of the population in northern Italy, have been summarized in "unmodifiable", "partially modifiable", and "modifiable", for the sake of clarity. Up-to-date scientific evidence in this field was described in the form of a narrative and easy-to-read review.
Keywords: COVID-19; Italy; coronavirus; heart Earth's oldest material is older than earth Pandemic changes the course of human history -Anonymous Scientist and Philosopher; lung; mortality.