Persistent decline of hospitalizations for acute stroke and acute coronary syndrome during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece: collateral damage unaffected.
Ther Adv Neurol Disord
; 14: 17562864211029540, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1311238
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
An alarming cerebro/cardiovascular collateral damage, reflected by a decline in admissions for acute stroke (AS) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS), was observed during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby leading to a re-design of public campaigns. However, there are limited data regarding the AS and ACS hospitalization rates during the second wave of the pandemic, which was followed by re-imposition of lockdowns.METHODS:
We calculated the rate of AS and ACS hospitalizations from three representative tertiary care hospitals in Greece during a 2-month period (November-December 2020) of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the corresponding control period in 2019 from three representative tertiary care hospitals in Greece. This was a follow-up study with identical design to our previous report evaluating AS and ACS hospitalizations during the first wave of the pandemic (March-April 2020).RESULTS:
Compared with 2019, there was a 34% relative reduction of AS hospitalizations [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.48-0.92, p = 0.013] and 33% relative reduction of ACS hospitalizations (IRR 0.67, 95% CI 0.54-0.83, p < 0.001) during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The relative reduction was smaller and did not reach the level of statistical significance for the respective syndromes (haemorrhagic stroke IRR 0.87, 95% CI 0.41-1.82, p = 0.71; ST-elevation myocardial infarction IRR 0.81, 95% CI 0.57-1.14, p = 0.22).CONCLUSION:
AS and ACS hospitalizations were persistently reduced during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with 2019 in Greece. This decline was similar to the observations during the first wave despite the large differences in the epidemiological COVID-19 burden. Lockdowns, a common characteristic in both waves, appear to have a detrimental indirect impact on cerebro/cardiovascular diseases in the general population.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal:
Ther Adv Neurol Disord
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
17562864211029540
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