Perspective

What Is New?

• Half of intubated patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) manifest myocardial injury, but mortality risk associated with myocardial injury is attenuated after adjustment for degree of critical illness.

• Myocardial injury is less common in COVID-19 compared with conventional acute respiratory distress syndrome after adjusting for confounders of age, renal dysfunction, and degree of critical illness.

What Are the Clinical Implications?

• Myocardial injury in COVID-19 is reflective of baseline risk and comorbidities and underlying multisystem organ dysfunction.

• Most myocardial injury in COVID-19 is related to critical illness, but given isolated reports of frank myocarditis and other severe direct cardiac manifestations, it is important to identify these rare and distinct manifestations.