Limitations
The main limitation of our study is its retrospective nature.
Nevertheless, given the unexpected nature of this pandemia, prospective
study would not be realistic. Other limitations includes the fact that
not all hospitalized COVID-19 patients underwent laboratory measurements
of troponin and/or CRP, thus, having a built-in bias for patients with
cardiac symptoms or higher disease severity levels. Moreover, since only
part of our patients underwent a 24-hour Holter and continuous ECG
monitoring, some transient arrhythmias might have been missed on
examination and 12-lead ECG’s. Lastly, we do not have post-discharge
follow-up data; thus, our study has probable some underestimation of
true COVID-related arrhythmia prevalence, as some arrhythmia could
probably develop post discharge.