How to explain the drop in heart attack admissions during confinement

New collateral effect of confinement: the number of hospital admissions for heart attacks fell by 30% during the first four weeks of confinement, between March 16 and April 12.

These results were revealed by a French study of 21 hospitals spread across the country, published last week in the British journal

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However, this is not a real drop in the number of heart attacks.

So how do you explain that patients with heart attacks did not go to the hospital?

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Some French confined, even suffering from a heart attack, chose to stay at home rather than go to the emergency room because they were afraid of disturbing, of not being treated or even of catching the Covid-19 in the hospital .

Professor Claire Mounier Véhier, cardiologist, remembers her experience at the Lille University Hospital during confinement: "If, for example, a heart attack manifests itself by pain in the chest or difficulty in breathing, we can say to ourselves' finally I am [just] stressed about the current situation '. "

"Sneaky and Deceptive" Symptoms

She also explains that some heart attack symptoms are less spectacular and do not alert patients to the urgency of going to the hospital: "The symptoms of a woman's heart attack in particular are extremely devious and misleading: c 'is a tightness in the chest, shortness of breath on exertion, ”she explains.

However, not being taken care of in hospital can lead to congestion of the artery with low noise, deterioration of the wall of the heart culminating in heart failure.

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The study still suggests that the number of heart attacks may have declined during confinement.

She considers several avenues such as a slower pace of life, reduction in stress, hyperactivity or even physical activity.

Finally, the decrease in air pollution is one of the hypotheses to be studied.