Heart disease-related deaths increased due to COVID-19, undoing a decade of progress
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant rise in heart disease-related deaths in the United States, according to a new analysis funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Prior to the pandemic, the country had made considerable progress getting that number to go down.
The new study will be presented in full at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2022 in Chicago.
Overall, the study’s authors found that the U.S. heart disease death rate had dropped 9.8% from 2010 to 2019. In 2020 alone, however, that rate climbed back up 4.1%. For some patient populations, including younger adults and non-Hispanic Black adults, the increases were especially troubling.
“The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of daily life, including access to preventive healthcare, which may have led to delays in detecting and treating heart disease,” lead author Rebecca C. Woodruff, PhD, a CDC epidemiologist, said in a prepared statement on the AHA website. “We expected to see an increase in heart disease death rates among adults, however the magnitude of the increase was striking.”
Woodruff et al. emphasized that COVID-19 patients appear to face a heightened risk of developing cardiovascular disease. In addition, other aspects of the pandemic—including the lack of physical activity and increases in smoking and alcohol use associated with lockdowns—all likely contributed to these rising mortality rates.
“These social determinants of health have a larger effect on people who are economically disadvantaged, Black people, Hispanic people and indigenous and native individuals, so then you have a domino effect resulting in higher death rates and more disease among these populations,” AHA President Michelle A. Albert, MD, said in the same statement.
Albert also urged everyone who has not received medical care since the pandemic began to see a physician as soon as possible. Physicians have their own role to play as well, she added.
“It’s important for health care professionals to really take a look at their pool of patients to identify those persons who have dropped off their radar and reach out to those people and offer medical assistance, as well as potentially connect them with the social resources that they might need now coming out of the pandemic,” she said.
Scientific Sessions 2022 is scheduled for Nov. 5-7. Additional details are available here. Stay tuned to Cardiovascular Business for additional coverage, including breaking news and exclusive interviews. Read through the conference’s late-breaking studies here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.