Prevalence and prognostic implications of cardiac injury in patients with influenza-like illness

Influenza is a risc factor for myocarditis and other cardiovascular complications, but the correlation to increased biomarkers for cardiac injury is not clear. In a prospective cohort study, we will study the prognostic impact of high-sensitive biomarkers in patients with influenza.

Adult patients with influenza-like illness are included during four influenza seasons (2017-2021) at three emergency departmens in at Örebro University Hopsital and Karlskoga Hospital. We compare ECG, high-sensitive biomarkers, cytokines and lipids between patients with verified influenza and patients with other etiologies. We investigate the correlation to cardiovascular complications and mortality within one year from inclusion.

The aim of the study is to identify patients with increased risc of severe disease due to influneza, and determine explanatory machenisms, in order to be able to undertake preventive measurements.