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Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region

Introduction: Containment measures were established to flatten the curve of COVID-19 contagion in order to avoid a crash of the healthcare system. However, these measures influenced the rate of hospitalization of cardiac patients. In this study, we aimed to analyse the impact of COVID-19 and the eff...

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Autores principales: D'Ascenzi, Flavio, Cameli, Matteo, Forni, Silvia, Gemmi, Fabrizio, Szasz, Claudia, Fabrizio, Valeria Di, Mechi, Maria Teresa, Nocci, Matteo, Mondillo, Sergio, Valente, Serafina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7994258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33778021
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2021.625569
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author D'Ascenzi, Flavio
Cameli, Matteo
Forni, Silvia
Gemmi, Fabrizio
Szasz, Claudia
Fabrizio, Valeria Di
Mechi, Maria Teresa
Nocci, Matteo
Mondillo, Sergio
Valente, Serafina
author_facet D'Ascenzi, Flavio
Cameli, Matteo
Forni, Silvia
Gemmi, Fabrizio
Szasz, Claudia
Fabrizio, Valeria Di
Mechi, Maria Teresa
Nocci, Matteo
Mondillo, Sergio
Valente, Serafina
author_sort D'Ascenzi, Flavio
collection PubMed
description Introduction: Containment measures were established to flatten the curve of COVID-19 contagion in order to avoid a crash of the healthcare system. However, these measures influenced the rate of hospitalization of cardiac patients. In this study, we aimed to analyse the impact of COVID-19 and the effects of lockdown measures on hospital admissions and alerts of emergency medical system (EMS) for cardiac causes in the Tuscany region. Methods: An observational, retrospective analysis from Italian Tuscany region was conducted. We evaluated consecutive patients contacting EMS or admitted to the 39 Emergency Departments (EDs) in Tuscany for cardiac causes in the first trimester of 2020. Data were compared with the same period in 2018/19. Results: The alerts of EMS for cardiac causes significantly decrease in 2020 and the highest difference between 2018/19 and 2020 was found immediately after national lockdown (Δ = −47.4%, p < 0.001). The number of admissions for chest pain in the EDs also decreased, with a maximum difference of −67.6% (p < 0.001) vs. 2018/19. The number of hospital accesses for acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure in the EDs significantly decreased in 2020 as compared to 2018/19 (maximum Δ = −58.9%, p < 0.001; maximum Δ = −63.0%, p < 0.001; maximum Δ = −72.7%, p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: A significant decrease in the contacts to EMS for cardiac causes and in cardiac diagnoses was observed during the first trimester of 2020. Fear of contagion has likely played a relevant role. The lesson learnt from first wave of COVID-19 pandemic suggests that appropriate public information strategies and re-education of people are essential.
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spelling pubmed-79942582021-03-27 Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region D'Ascenzi, Flavio Cameli, Matteo Forni, Silvia Gemmi, Fabrizio Szasz, Claudia Fabrizio, Valeria Di Mechi, Maria Teresa Nocci, Matteo Mondillo, Sergio Valente, Serafina Front Cardiovasc Med Cardiovascular Medicine Introduction: Containment measures were established to flatten the curve of COVID-19 contagion in order to avoid a crash of the healthcare system. However, these measures influenced the rate of hospitalization of cardiac patients. In this study, we aimed to analyse the impact of COVID-19 and the effects of lockdown measures on hospital admissions and alerts of emergency medical system (EMS) for cardiac causes in the Tuscany region. Methods: An observational, retrospective analysis from Italian Tuscany region was conducted. We evaluated consecutive patients contacting EMS or admitted to the 39 Emergency Departments (EDs) in Tuscany for cardiac causes in the first trimester of 2020. Data were compared with the same period in 2018/19. Results: The alerts of EMS for cardiac causes significantly decrease in 2020 and the highest difference between 2018/19 and 2020 was found immediately after national lockdown (Δ = −47.4%, p < 0.001). The number of admissions for chest pain in the EDs also decreased, with a maximum difference of −67.6% (p < 0.001) vs. 2018/19. The number of hospital accesses for acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure in the EDs significantly decreased in 2020 as compared to 2018/19 (maximum Δ = −58.9%, p < 0.001; maximum Δ = −63.0%, p < 0.001; maximum Δ = −72.7%, p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: A significant decrease in the contacts to EMS for cardiac causes and in cardiac diagnoses was observed during the first trimester of 2020. Fear of contagion has likely played a relevant role. The lesson learnt from first wave of COVID-19 pandemic suggests that appropriate public information strategies and re-education of people are essential. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-03-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7994258/ /pubmed/33778021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2021.625569 Text en Copyright © 2021 D'Ascenzi, Cameli, Forni, Gemmi, Szasz, Fabrizio, Mechi, Nocci, Mondillo and Valente. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Cardiovascular Medicine
D'Ascenzi, Flavio
Cameli, Matteo
Forni, Silvia
Gemmi, Fabrizio
Szasz, Claudia
Fabrizio, Valeria Di
Mechi, Maria Teresa
Nocci, Matteo
Mondillo, Sergio
Valente, Serafina
Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region
title Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region
title_full Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region
title_fullStr Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region
title_full_unstemmed Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region
title_short Reduction of Emergency Calls and Hospitalizations for Cardiac Causes: Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lockdown in Tuscany Region
title_sort reduction of emergency calls and hospitalizations for cardiac causes: effects of covid-19 pandemic and lockdown in tuscany region
topic Cardiovascular Medicine
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7994258/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33778021
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2021.625569
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