Impact of the covid pandemic on admission for acute heart disease in a level II coronary unit

FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Type of funding sources: None. PURPOSE AND METHODS: The Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increase in demand for Critical Patient Care Units. For this reason, level III Coronary Units have become a very valuable resource in the care of seriously ill patients, especially those due to covid. Level II Coronary Units could have assumed a greater number of acute heart patients, especially coronary, during the pandemic in hospitals that have coronary units of different levels. Our objective has been to compare the profile of patients who have been admitted to our level II Coronary Unit, retrospectively analyzing and comparing the demographic data and the reason for admission of the patients who were admitted between March and November 2019 (group I) with those who did so between the same months of 2020 (group II). RESULTS: Group I patients were 518 patients compared to 625 in group II. There was no difference between the age of the patients admitted (65.2 + 13 vs 65.1 + 13.8 years old). In the covid period, there were no significant differences between the classic risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia. There was a higher percentage of smoking among the patients. During the pandemic, the patients admitted had significantly less history of previous heart disease (40.2% vs 78%). There has been a significant increase in admissions for acute ischemic heart disease in our unit (60% vs 13.8% the previous year), at the expense of Acute coronary syndrome with ST elevation (STEMI), with a downward trend in pathologies such as arrhythmias (13.5% in 2020 vs 20.6% in 2019) and acute heart failure (11.1% in 2020 vs 12.1% in 2019). The average length of stay during the Covid-19 period was significantly shorter, 2.7 days, compared to 3.3 days in the 2019 period, at the expense of a higher turnover rate in the Unit (79.42 vs 74, 09). During the covid period, there were 36.67% more discharge. CONCLUSIONS: During the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant increase in acute ischemic heart disease (STEMI) has been observed in our level II Coronary unit, which is responsible for the greater number of discharges and the decrease in our average length of stay. This has allowed level III Coronary Units the ability to assume the excess of patients in need of intensive care that has been significantly increased by the Covid-19 pandemic