Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on overall percutaneous coronary interventions from the France-PCI registry: Comparative analysis of the years 2019 and 2020

INTRODUCTION: In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted the health system and a drop in percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) was observed. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a full year of elective and urgent PCIs, from the national France-PCI registry. METHOD: The primary endpoint was to compare the number of PCIs performed in 2019 (before the pandemic), and 2020 (during the pandemic). RESULTS: Between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020, in the 20 participating centers, 22,807 consecutive PCIs were included. The total number of PCIs was reduced by −11.5% between 2019 and 2020 (12,102 versus 10,705; P < 0.001), mainly due to a reduction in elective interventions (−21.9%; P < 0.001). There was a significant decrease in PCIs for stable angina (P < 0.001) and silent ischemia (P < 0.001). For urgent PCIs, the decrease was less, mainly driven by a non-ST+ acute coronary syndromes (ACS) reduction (−5.7%; P = 0.01), as well as a decrease of early ST-Elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMIs) < 24 Hours (−7.1%; P = 0.02). There was also a significant increase in the number of late STEMIs > 24H (+23.4%; P = 0.002). Following the decrease in ACS during the first lockdown from March to May 2020, there was an unexpected significant increase in urgent interventions (“rebound effect”) out of step with the rest of the year (P = 0.002) (Fig. 1A). Nevertheless, there was no increase in elective PCIs after the first lockdown in comparison with the rest of the year 2020 (P = 0.67) (Fig. 1B). In 2020, patients were significantly younger (P = 0.001), with less prior history of coronary artery disease (P = 0.001), and prasugrel was more often prescribed after PCIs (P = 0.001). In 2020, the radial approach was more often performed (P = 0.001), as well as an “Ad-hoc” PCI (P = 0.01), and the median fluoroscopy time was lengthened (P < 0.001). For STEMIs < 24H, there was more frequently anterior localizations (P = 0.03), and ground medical transport was the majority (P = 0.03). The time from onset of symptoms to first medical contact was significantly lengthened (P = 0.01), and a non-significant increase in total ischemic time (P = 0.08) was found. Finally, there was no significant increase in intra-hospital cardiovascular events during the pandemic in 2020. CONCLUSION: We show an extraordinary reduction in elective and urgent PCIs, as well as a never described paradoxical increase in urgent PCIs after the first lockdown, during the COVID-19 pandemic.