Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of death worldwide and significantly affect patient quality of life and socioeconomic status. Numerous reports consistently demonstrate that CVDs are a major risk factor for severe course of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including higher risks of hospitalizations and inpatient mortality. In the context of the current pandemic, managing patients with CVDs requires special attention from doctors. There are now more and more reports of the long-term effects of COVID-19. The long-term effects on cardiovascular system of millions of COVID-19 survivors are currently unknown. The aim of the review was to systematize the accumulated knowledge about the mutual influence of COVID-19 and CVDs. The features of CVD impact on the course and outcomes of COVID-19, as well as the reasons for the worsening of CVD course in patients with COVID-19 are considered. The impact of redistribution of health care resources and large-scale isolation measures on the management of patients with CVDs is discussed. The review also presents the most relevant data on long COVID. Predictors of a long-term disease course were identified for risk stratification in order to timely implement preventive measures and develop an individualized treatment. The authors focused on finding novel approaches to reduce CVD mortality during a pandemic.

Aim: To update the definitions of selected questions of the "QAA-25" (quantitative adherence assessment) scale and evaluate it according to the criteria of validity and measure of agreement.Materials and Methods. In a descriptive cross-sectional study including 200 patients with coronary heart disease, adherence was determined using traditional and alternative versions of selected questions of the QAA-25 scale, followed by assessment of construct validity, factor validity, and measure of agreement.Results. Alternative question versions did not significantly affect test results, with 81% of respondents in the outpatient sample and 69% in the inpatient sample rating them as "more acceptable." The QAA-25 scale has good construct and internal validity (α – 0.818, α_st – 0.832), with moderate agreement (κ – 0.562) and demonstrates high reliability of internal validity – when scale items are consistently excluded, α values remain in the 0.801-0.839 range.Conclusion. The QAA-25 scale with modified question definitions should be used instead of the previous version of the scale. Good construct validity and factor validity, sufficient measure of agreement and specificity, high sensitivity and reliability of the QAA-25 scale allow to recommend it as a tool for assessing adherence to drug therapy, medical support, lifestyle modification and integral adherence to treatment in scientific and clinical practice.

Aim. To study the quantitative parameters of adherence to lifestyle modification, medical support, and therapy in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD).Material and methods. This cross-sectional study included 683 respondents: 168 patients with hypertension (HTN); 196 patients with stable angina; 141 patients with atrial fibrillation (AF); 178 patients with heart failure (HF). We used N. A. Nikolaev questionnaire for adherence assessment. For all adherence parameters, the level ≤75% was regarded as insufficient. The study was carried out in accordance with Good Clinical Practice and Declaration ofHelsinki. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committees of all participating clinical centers. All patients signed written informed consent.Results. Approximately 1/3 of respondents agreed to receive therapy. The adherence level was >75%. Patients with angina and AF were more likely to receive therapy. It turned out that that approximately 2/3 of patients were not ready for medical support. Patients with angina were less ready for medical support, while those with HTN and HF hadhigher values of adherence. Adherence to lifestyle modification was owest among analyzed parameters. Only 18,5% of hypertensive patients, 25,5% of patients with angina, 26,2% of AF patients and 23,1% of patients with HF were ready to change the lifestyle.Conclusion. The study revealed a significant number (~2/3) of CVD patients with insufficient adherence, which specifies the need to assess the effectiveness of therapy and course of the disease in conditions of low adherence and to develop individualized therapeutic strategies.

The paper presents algorithms for adult outpatient care of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its assumption.

The association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cardiovascular risk is currently one of the actively studied areas. The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease continues to grow worldwide. In the structure of mortality rate of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the first place is occupied by cardiovascular events: stroke and myocardial infarction. Studies have shown that the presence of severe liver fibrosis (F3-4) in NAFLD not only increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), but also increases the risk of overall mortality by 69% due to mortality from cardiovascular causes. The degree of increased risk is associated with the degree of activity of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Despite the large number of works on this topic, we do not have a clear opinion on the impact on cardiovascular risk, interaction and the contribution of various factors, as well as algorithms for managing patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This article describes the pathogenetic factors of formation of cardiovascular risks in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, proposed the idea of stratification of cardiovascular risks in these patients, taking into account changes in the structure of the liver (fibrosis) and function (clinical and biochemical activity) and also it describes the main directions of drug therapy, taking into account the common pathogenetic mechanisms for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular diseases. The role of obesity, local fat depots, adipokines, and endothelial dysfunction as the leading pathogenetic factors of increased cardiovascular risk in patients with NAFLD is discussed. Among pathogenetically justified drugs in conditions of poly and comorbidity, hypolipidemic (statins, fibrates), angiotensin II receptor antagonists, beta-blockers, etc. can be considered. According to numerous studies, it becomes obvious that the assessment of cardiovascular risks in patients with NAFLD will probably allow prescribing cardiological drugs, selecting individualized therapy regimens, taking into account the form of NAFLD, and on the other hand, building curation taking into account the identified cardiovascular risks.

Intense physical activity increases the risk of sudden death by 10–17 fold. Some of the most important tasks of modern pathophysiology in sports medicine include searching for factors that allow an athlete’s body to adapt to loads, understanding the line between adaptation and pathology and identifying risk groups of adaptation failure. It is necessary to distinguish between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and true myocardial hypertrophy in athletes that results from the adaptation of the cardiovascular system to intense physical exertion. In Seattle, the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine together with the European Society of Cardiology proposed standards for the interpretation of electrocardiogram in athletes and considered criteria for the detection of pathological changes. The best functional state of an athlete and the effectiveness of his/her training are noted with high autonomy and high variability of heart rate. This is reflected in rhythmocardiogram data by increases in high frequency and root mean square of successive differences in heartbeats and a decrease in the low-frequency to high-frequency ratio.A promising direction in the study of markers of an athletic heart is the analysis of echocardiographic (EchoCG) images of young and professional athletes. According to EchoСG analysis, nonadaptive remodelling is the loss of the ellipsoid shape of the left ventricle in favour of a spherical one. In athletes, when assessing transmitral flow by EchoCG, a low A peak can be considered a reserve of adaptive capabilities of the heart and not a pathology. For athletes-dischargers, a concentric variant of changing the geometry of the myocardium is characteristic. Upon reaching the qualification of a candidate, master of sportsan eccentric change in the left ventricle cavity prevails.Funding: The study did not have sponsorship.Conflict of interest: Authors declare no conflict of interest.Author contributionsConception and design: Y.P. Skirdenko Drafting the article: A.V. Gorbenko, O.V. Zamahina, S.A. SherstyukCritical revision of the article: N.A. NikolaevFinal approval of the version to be published: A.V. Gorbenko, Y.P. Skirdenko, N.A. Nikolaev, O.V. Zamahina, S.A. Sherstyuk, A.V. Ershov