Objectives: A decrease in Emergency Department (ED) visits for cardiac conditions has recently been reported from the US and Western Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data are still scant, and the correlation between cardiac symptoms and confirmed diagnoses are not available. There are no reports on changes in ED volumes at a national level, or from countries in the Asia-Middle Eastern region. We report data from national referral centers for tertiary care and cardiac care centers in Qatar, which see > 80% of cardiac emergencies in the country.
Results: We analyzed 102,033 ED visits in the COVID-19-era (March-April 2020 and 2019) and determined the proportion presenting for cardiac symptoms and their confirmed diagnoses. We observed a 16-37% decline in ED volumes overall, with a 25-50% decline in patients presenting with cardiac symptoms in March and April 2020 compared with March and April 2019. Among those presenting with cardiac symptoms, we observed a 24-43% decline in cardiac diagnoses in March and April 2020 compared with March and April 2019.
Keywords: Acute illness; COVID-19; Emergency Department; Qatar; SARS-CoV-2.