Delays in presentation in patients with acute myocardial infarction during the COVID-19 pandemic
| Author | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
Hamadeh, Anas | Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas | Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Dallas, Texas |
Tecson, Kristen M. | Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Dallas, Texas | |
Rutland, Joshua | Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas | Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Dallas, Texas |
Aldujeili, Montazar | University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy | |
Vallabhan, Ravi C. | Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA | Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Dallas, TX, USA |
McCullough, Peter A. | Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA | Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Dallas, TX, USA |
| Date |
|---|
2020-11-18 |
Creative Commons Attribution license (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International CC-BY-NC 4.0)
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, has had a major impact on the behavior of patients, as well as on the delivery of healthcare services. With older and more medically vulnerable people tending to stay at home to avoid contracting the virus, it is unclear how the behavior of people with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has changed. The aim of this study was to determine if delays in presentation and healthcare service delivery for AMI exist during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the same period a year prior. Methods: In this single-center, retrospective study, we evaluated patients admitted with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) during early months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 11, 2020 to April 20, 2020) compared to patients admitted with same diagnosis during the same period a year prior. Results: There were 30 and 62 patients who presented with NSTEMI in the pandemic and pre-pandemic eras, respectively. [...].