Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, fewer patients have been going to the emergency department (ED) for suspected issues with their hearts. The result of this trend, according to a new study out of England, is a rise in cardiac mortality.
The analysis, published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, compared data in the UK from before and after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. Overall, the authors found that weekly ED visits dropped by approximately 35% and excess cardiac deaths increased by up to 18%.
One cardiac death could have been prevented altogether or at least delayed for every 12 or so ED visits, the team wrote.
“We found evidence of reduced ED attendances of patients with suspected cardiac disease during the COVID19 pandemic peak in England and an associated time-lagged increase in cardiac mortality,” explained lead author Michail Katsoulis, PhD, University College London in the UK, and colleagues. “We estimate the unintended harm that may have resulted from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic response on healthcare-seeking behavior and/or the provision of healthcare for non-COVID-19 cardiovascular disease.”
The team did note that their work had certain limitations. For instance, deaths had to be classified as either related to COVID-19 or unrelated for the purpose of this study—and misclassified deaths is a very real possibility.
Also, they wrote, “the validity of our estimates rests upon the assumption that the COVID-19 pandemic only affects excess deaths from cardiac disease through the reduction in ED admissions (exclusion restriction assumption), and not through other factors, such as, increased anxiety leading to an increased incidence rate of myocardial infarction.”
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Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.