Background: The phenomenon of declining numbers of patients presenting with myocardial infarction was reported from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic onward. It was thought that measures introduced to stem the pandemic, such as the lockdown, contributed to this development. However, the data on hospital admissions, delay times, and mortality are not consistent.
Methods: Our systematic literature review and meta-analysis embraced studies reporting the number of hospital admissions of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and/or non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) during lockdown episodes. We also collected data on patient- and system-related delay times and on mortality.
Results: Data from 27 studies on a total of 81 163 patients were included in our meta-analysis. We found that the number of hospital admissions of patients with myocardial infarction was significantly lower during the lockdown than before the pandemic (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 0.516 [0.403; 0.660], I2 = 98%). This was true both for patients with STEMI (IRR = 0.620 [0.514; 0.746], I2 = 96%) and for patients with NSTEMI (IRR = 0.454 [0.354; 0.584], I2 = 96%). However, we found no significant difference in the time from hospital admission to cardiac catheterization, or in mortality, in relation to the time from symptom onset to first medical contact.
Conclusion: In this study, we have shown that the lockdown due to COVID-19 was associated with a marked decline in the number of hospital admissions of patients with myocardial infarction. As no significant effect on delay times or mortality was observed, it seems that timely medical care continued to be delivered.