Acute myocardial infarction in the Covid-19 era: Incidence, clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes—A multicenter registry

BACKGROUND: We aimed to describe the characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients during the Covid-19 era. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, multicenter study involving 13 intensive cardiac care units, to evaluate consecutive STEMI patients admitted throughout an 8-week period during the Covid-19 outbreak. These patients were compared with consecutive STEMI patients admitted during the corresponding period in 2018 who had been prospectively documented in the Israeli bi-annual National Acute Coronary Syndrome Survey. The primary end-point was defined as a composite of malignant arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, and/or in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included individual components of primary outcome, cardiogenic shock, mechanical complications, electrical complications, re-infarction, stroke, and pericarditis. RESULTS: The study cohort comprised 1466 consecutive acute MI patients, of whom 774 (53%) were hospitalized during the Covid-19 outbreak. Overall, 841 patients were diagnosed with STEMI: 424 (50.4%) during the Covid-19 era and 417 (49.6%) during the parallel period in 2018. Although STEMI patients admitted during the Covid-19 period had fewer co-morbidities, they presented with a higher Killip class (p value = .03). The median time from symptom onset to reperfusion was extended from 180 minutes (IQR 122–292) in 2018 to 290 minutes (IQR 161–1080, p < .001) in 2020. Hospitalization during the Covid-19 era was independently associated with an increased risk of the combined endpoint in the multivariable regression model (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.03–2.68, p value = .04). Furthermore, the rate of mechanical complications was four times higher during the Covid-19 era (95% CI 1.42–14.8, p-value = .02). However, in-hospital mortality remained unchanged (OR 1.73, 95% CI 0.81–3.78, p-value = .16). CONCLUSIONS: STEMI patients admitted during the first wave of Covid-19 outbreak, experienced longer total ischemic time, which was translated into a more severe disease status upon hospital admission, and a higher rate of in-hospital adverse events, compared with parallel period.