Influence of Different COVID-19 Pandemic Phases on STEMI: Experience From an Italian Hub Centre()

INTRODUCTION: During Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic a reduction in ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction with an increase in in-hospital mortality has been observed. In our region the pandemic temporal trend was sinusoidal with peaks and valleys. A first outbreak was in March 2020, a reduction in May 2020 and a second outbreak in November 2020. MATHERIALS & METHODS: Our hospital was reorganized as one of the 13 Macro-Hubs identified in Lombardy and we retrospectively analysed consecutive STEMI patients hospitalized in the three different phases of COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: We did not register any difference in the number of STEMI hospitalized in the three phases. At multivariate analysis for the entire population COVID-19 infection was the strongest independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. Focusing on COVID-19 patients they experienced a 5-time increased incidence of in-hospital mortality (COVID-19(pos) vs COVID-19(neg), 47.1% vs 8.6%; p < 0.0001) mainly driven by a higher incidence of respiratory complications (COVID-19(pos) vs COVID-19(neg), 41.2% vs 6.2%; p < 0.0001) with a similar incidence of cardiac death. DISCUSSION: Among STEMI admitted during different phases of pandemic, this study found an increased mortality in patients affected by COVID-19; the co-presence of COVID-19 infection leads to an increase of mortality mostly related to respiratory complications. Interestingly the different incidence in the general population of COVID-19 did not influence the incidence of STEMI. CONCLUSION: In conclusion our data suggest the crucial need for an early and precise diagnosis of COVID-19 infection in STEMI to establish a correct management of these very high-risk patients.