Participants
This
single
center, prospective, cohort study was performed at the Hankou Hospital
in Wuhan City, China. Consecutive patients who recovered from severe
COVID-19 and complained of resting palpitations symptoms
from
February 1 to April 1, 2020, were included.
The severe cases of COVID-19 were defined by the presence of any of the
following 11: shortness of breath and the respiratory
rate > 30 breaths/min; oxygen saturation ≤ 93%; partial
pressure of oxygen to fraction of inspire oxygen ratio ≤ 300 mmHg; lung
infiltrates > 50% within 24 to 48 hours; respiratory
failure; septic shock; and/or multiple organ dysfunction or failure. All
the recovered COVID-19 patients met the discharge criteria as follows11: afebrile for at least three days, respiratory
symptoms significantly improved, improvement in the radiological
abnormalities on chest radiograph or CT, and two consecutive negative
SARS-CoV-2 tests more than 24 hours apart. Patients who refused to
participate in this study were excluded.
The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of Renmin
Hospital of Wuhan University and Wuhan Hankou Hospital. Written informed
consents were obtained from all the individuals who participated in this
study.