Acute Coronary Syndrome in the Era of SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Registry of the French Group of Acute Cardiac Care

BACKGROUND: In this study, we aimed to report clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection who were referred for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) during the peak of the pandemic in France. METHODS: We included all consecutive patients referred for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-STEMI (NSTEMI) during the first 3 weeks of April 2020 in 5 university hospitals (Paris, south, and north of France), all performing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. RESULTS: The study included 237 patients (67 ± 14 years old; 69% male), 116 (49%) with STEMI and 121 (51%) with NSTEMI. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2-associated ACS was 11% (n = 26) and 11 patients had severe hypoxemia on presentation (mechanical ventilation or nasal oxygen > 6 L/min). Patients were comparable regarding medical history and risk factors, except a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus in SARS-CoV-2 patients (53.8% vs 25.6%; P = 0.003). In SARS-CoV-2 patients, cardiac arrest on admission was more frequent (26.9% vs 6.6%; P < 0.001). The presence of significant coronary artery disease and culprit artery occlusion in SARS-CoV-2 patients respectively, was 92% and 69.4% for those with STEMI, and 50% and 15.5% for those with NSTEMI. Percutaneous coronary intervention was performed in the same percentage of STEMI (84.6%) and NSTEMI (84.8%) patients, regardless of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but no-reflow (19.2% vs 3.3%; P < 0.001) was greater in SARS-CoV-2 patients. In-hospital death occurred in 7 SARS-CoV-2 patients (5 from cardiac cause) and was higher compared with noninfected patients (26.9% vs 6.2%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this registry, ACS in SARS-CoV-2 patients presented with high a percentage of cardiac arrest on admission, high incidence of no-reflow, and high in-hospital mortality.