Single Center Trends in Acute Coronary Syndrome Volume and Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Weiyi Tan; Rushi V Parikh; Rebecca Chester; Jeffrey Harrell; Vanessa Franco; Olcay Aksoy; Ravi Dave; Asim Rafique; Marcella Press

doi:10.14740/cr1096

Single Center Trends in Acute Coronary Syndrome Volume and Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cardiol Res. 2020 Aug;11(4):256-259. doi: 10.14740/cr1096. Epub 2020 Jun 3.

Authors

Weiyi Tan¹, Rushi V Parikh¹, Rebecca Chester¹, Jeffrey Harrell¹, Vanessa Franco², Olcay Aksoy¹, Ravi Dave¹, Asim Rafique¹, Marcella Press¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

PMID: 32595811
PMCID: PMC7295564
DOI: 10.14740/cr1096

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has greatly affected healthcare delivery across the world. In this report, we aim to further characterize the changes in cardiac catheterization at our institution, specifically in the setting of acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients undergoing cardiac catheterization between December 23, 2019 and April 12, 2020 at our institution. All patients with cardiac catheterizations for ACS, ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) activation, and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) were analyzed. Cardiac catheterization volume, as well as clinical and procedural characteristics of patients undergoing cardiac catheterization, was compared before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results: Patients presenting with ACS and OHCA were similar in terms of demographics and comorbidities during both time periods. The mean monthly volume for ACS cases dropped by 26% during the pandemic, which was consistent among both unstable angina/non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI) and STEMI cases. OHCA volume decreased significantly as well (five cases per month before to zero cases during the pandemic, P = 0.01). Among patients with STEMI, initial markers of cardiac injury, door-to-balloon time, and all-cause mortality were similar in both time periods.

Conclusions: With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a reduction in cardiac catheterization volume across the spectrum of ACS at our institution, which was consistent with reports from other centers across the globe. Patients with STEMI during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic did not seem to have delays in presentation or significant differences in all-cause mortality at our institution.

Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; COVID-19; Cardiac catheterization; STEMI.