Deaths from heart attack doubled during pandemic

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• Cardiology: The fear of the coronavirus reduces the heart attacks that are treated by 40%

More and more data confirm that Covid-19 not only produces a large number of direct deaths, but also indirect ones.

In Spain, deaths from heart attack

, according to a new study by the Spanish Society of Cardiology.

The study, which has evaluated in-hospital mortality due to heart attack in 75 Spanish hospitals, compared the procedures performed, the characteristics of the patients treated and the results in two groups of patients.

On the one hand, those treated between April 1 and 30, 2019 -before the arrival of the new coronavirus- and, on the other, patients treated between March 16 and April 14, 2020, in the middle of the first wave of infections.

"The results indicate that COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on acute mortality from heart attack. Specifically, hospital mortality from this cause has practically doubled during the pandemic compared to the previous period," explains Oriol Rodríguez Leor, first signatory of the study in a statement issued by the medical society.

The study, entitled 'Impact of COVID-19 in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation.

The Spanish experience 'and published in the' Revista Española de Cardiología 'is the continuity of an investigation carried out a few months ago, which already showed that the fear of the coronavirus had reduced the heart attacks treated in the first week of the pandemic by 40%.

The update of the work continues to confirm a decrease in the number of patients with suspected infarction, but in a more moderate way with respect to the results observed at the beginning of the registry.

"Initially we observed a reduction of 40% that, later and with data that were extended to more weeks of the pandemic, there were

with heart attack who were not assisted", indicates Rodríguez Leor.

In addition, research has found an increase in ischemia time;

that is, the minutes that elapse from the onset of symptoms to the first medical assistance.

Before Covid-19 that time was

.

This is a fundamental time, since it determines the prognosis not only in terms of mortality, but also in terms of the possibility of developing complications.

However, the study did not detect differences in the way of treating patients with infarction: more than 94% of the patients have been treated with primary angioplasty, the treatment of choice for acute myocardial infarction.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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