Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on patients with cardio/cerebrovascular disease who visit the emergency department

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic situation is a state that has had a great impact on the medical system and society. To respond to the pandemic situation, various methods, such as a pre-triage system, are being implemented in the emergency medical field. However, there are insufficient studies on the effects of this pandemic situation on patients visiting the emergency department (ED), especially those with cardio/cerebrovascular diseases (CVD)¹ classified as time-dependent emergencies.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of a cohort of patients from April 2020 to December 2020 (April 2020 was when the pre-triage system was established) compared to a parallel comparison patient cohort from 2019. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. CVD was defined by the patient's final diagnosis.

Results: During the same period, the number of patients who had visited the ED after COVID-19 had decreased to 79.1% of the number of patients who had visited the ED before COVID-19. The overall patient mortality and the mortality in the patients cardiovascular disease had both increased, while the mortality from cerebrovascular disease did not increase. Meanwhile, the ED length of stay had increased in all patients but did not increase in the patients with cardiovascular disease.

Conclusion: As with prior studies conducted in other regions, in our study, the total number of ED visits were decreased compared to before COVID-19. The overall mortality had increased, particularly in the patients with cardiovascular disease.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cardiovascular disease; Cerebrovascular disease; Emergency department visits; Pandemic.