The impact of COVID-19 on heart failure admissions in Suriname-A call for action.
J Natl Med Assoc
; 115(3): 283-289, 2023 Jun.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2279358
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a worldwide reorganization of healthcare systems focusing on limiting the spread of the virus. The impact of these measures on heart failure (HF) admissions is scarcely reported in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) including Suriname. We therefore assessed HF hospitalizations before and during the pandemic and call for action to improve healthcare access in Suriname through the development and implementation of telehealth strategies.METHODS:
Retrospectively collected clinical (# hospitalizations per patient, in hospital mortality, comorbidities) and demographic (sex, age, ethnicity) data of people hospitalized with a primary or secondary HF discharge ICD10 code in the Academic Hospital Paramaribo (AZP) from February to December 2019 (pre-pandemic) and February to December 2020 (during the pandemic) were used for analysis. Data are presented as frequencies with corresponding percentages. T-tests were used to analyze continuous variables and the two-sample test for proportions for categorical variables.RESULTS:
There was an overall slight decrease of 9.1% HF admissions (N pre-pandemic417 vs N during the pandemic 383). Significantly less patients (18.3%, p-value<0.00) were hospitalized during the pandemic (N 249 (65.0%)) compared to pre-pandemic (N 348 (83.3%)), while readmissions increased statistically significantly for both readmissions within 90 days (75 (19.6%) vs 55 (13.2%), p-valueâ¯=â¯0.01) and readmissions within 365 days (122 (31.9%) vs 70 (16.7%), p-valueâ¯=â¯0.00) in 2020 compared to 2019. Patients admitted during the pandemic also had significantly more of the following comorbidities hypertension (46.2% vs 30.6%, p-valueâ¯=â¯0.00), diabetes (31.9% vs 24.9%, p-valueâ¯=â¯0.03) anemia (12.8% vs 3.1%, p-valueâ¯=â¯0.00), and atrial fibrillation (22.7% vs 15.1%, p-valueâ¯=â¯0.00).CONCLUSION:
HF admissions were reduced during the pandemic while HF readmissions increased compared to the pre-pandemic period. Due to in-person consultation restrictions, the HF clinic was inactive during the pandemic period. Distance monitoring of HF patients via telehealth tools could help in reducing these adverse effects. This call for action identifies key elements (digital and health literacy, telehealth legislation, integration of telehealth tools within the current healthcare sector) needed for the successful development and implementation of these tools in LMICs.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
/
Heart Failure
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
English Caribbean
/
Suriname
Language:
English
Journal:
J Natl Med Assoc
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
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