Although COVID-19 involves primarily the respiratory system, evidence of pathological involvement of the heart during the acute phase of illness is rapidly growing. Cardiac injury has been demonstrated in COVID-19 patients by detection of changes in cardiac function and increased markers of myocardial damage. 1 Because most COVID-19 patients recover from illness, knowledge of the cardiac outcome of infection is important. The goal of this study was to compare the cardiac structure and function of patients who recovered from COVID-19 with or without prior biochemical evidence of cardiac injury.

We examined 105 patients (age, 57 6 14 years; 56 male and 49 female patients) who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 at a university hospital and who were recruited after hospital discharge. From March 15 to April 15, 2020, patients had presented with fever and/or respiratory symptoms and tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 on a nasopharyngeal swab. Depending on clinical severity, patients were admitted either to COVID-19 isolation units for clinical monitoring and oxygen support with high-flow nasal cannula or subintensive/intensive care units for mechanical ventilation. After discharge, echocardiography was done in consecutive patients who attended follow-up visits from April 15 to May 15, 2020. Sixty-one percent of the patients who were discharged from March 15 to April 15, 2002, attended follow-up visits during this period, and therefore a selection bias cannot be excluded. Echocardiography was performed with the use of appropriate personal protective equipment2 by investigators who were blinded to the clinical and laboratory data. 3 The structure of cardiac chambers and left and right ventricular systolic