Italy registered a 48.4% reduction in admissions for acute myocardial infraction during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data comes from a study recently published in the European Heart Journal which analyzed the number of admissions to intensive cardiac care units of 54 associated Italian university cardiology facilities in the ‘CCU (Coronary Care Unit) Academy Investigator Group’ from 12th to 19th March 2020 compared with the equivalent week of the previous year.
Professor Roberto Pedrinelli (on the right), Director of the ‘Scuola di Specializzazione in Malattie dell'Apparato Cardiovascolare’ and a member of the Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pisa, is one of the authors of the study coordinated by the Italian Society of Cardiology (SIC) where Professor Perdinelli is also a member of the governing board.
According to the study, the reduction in admissions was largely similar geographically in the north (-52.1%), centre (-59.3%) and south (-52.1%). The absolute number of admissions went from 618 (176 women and 442 men) to 319 (76 women and 243 men) and case fatalities almost doubled, going from 17 to 31.
“There was a significant reduction in the number of patient admissions for acute myocardial infarction in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a significant increase in case fatality and complication rates,” commented Roberto Pedrinelli. ”This represents a serious social issue which must be addressed by scientific and healthcare communities and public regulatory agencies.”
References:
Reduction of hospitalizations for myocardial infarction in Italy in the COVID-19 era. De Rosa S, Spaccarotella C, Basso C, Calabrò MP, Curcio A, Filardi PP, Mancone M, Mercuro G, Muscoli S, Nodari S, Pedrinelli R, Sinagra G, Indolfi C; Società Italiana di Cardiologia and the CCU Academy investigator group. Eur Heart J. 2020 May 15:ehaa409. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa409.