Impact of the COVID‐19 Pandemic on Patients Without COVID‐19 With Acute Myocardial Infarction and Heart Failure

Abstract

Background

Excess mortality from cardiovascular disease during the COVID‐19 pandemic has been reported. The mechanism is unclear but may include delay or deferral of care, or differential treatment during hospitalization because of strains on hospital capacity.

Methods and Results

We used emergency department and inpatient data from a 12‐hospital health system to examine changes in volume, patient age and comorbidities, treatment (right‐ and left‐heart catheterization), and outcomes for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and heart failure (HF) during the COVID‐19 pandemic compared with pre‐COVID‐19 (2018 and 2019), controlling for seasonal variation. We analyzed 27 427 emergency department visits or hospitalizations. Patient volume decreased during COVID‐19 for both HF and AMI, but age, race, sex, and medical comorbidities were similar before and during COVID‐19 for both groups. Acuity increased for AMI as measured by the proportion of patients with ST‐segment elevation. There were no differences in right‐heart catheterization for patients with HF or in left heart catheterization for patients with AMI. In‐hospital mortality increased for AMI during COVID‐19 (odds ratio [OR], 1.46; 95% CI, 1.21–1.76), particularly among the ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction subgroup (OR, 2.57; 95% CI, 2.24–2.96), but was unchanged for HF (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.89–1.16).

Conclusions

Cardiovascular volume decreased during COVID‐19. Despite similar patient age and comorbidities and in‐hospital treatments during COVID‐19, mortality increased for patients with AMI but not patients with HF. Given that AMI is a time‐sensitive condition, delay or deferral of care rather than changes in hospital care delivery may have led to worse cardiovascular outcomes during COVID‐19.