TY - JOUR
TI - 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
AU - Katsouras, C.
AU - Tsivgoulis, G.
AU - Papafaklis, M.
AU - Karapanayiotides, T.
AU - Alexopoulos, D.
AU - Ntais, E.
AU - Papagiannopoulou, G.
AU - Koutroulou, I.
AU - Ziakas, A.
AU - Sianos, G.
AU - Kouparanis, A.
AU - Trivilou, P.
AU - Ballas, C.
AU - Samara, I.
AU - Kosmidou, M.
AU - Palaiodimou, L.
AU - Grigoriadis, N.
AU - Michalis, L.K.
AU - Giannopoulos, S.
JO - Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders
PY - 2021
VL - 14
TODO - null
SP - null
PB - SAGE Publications Ltd
SN - 1756-2856, 1756-2864
TODO - 10.1177/17562864211029540
TODO - acute coronary syndrome;  adult;  angina pectoris;  Article;  cardiovascular disease;  chronic kidney failure;  controlled study;  coronary artery bypass graft;  coronavirus disease 2019;  diabetes mellitus;  female;  heart ejection fraction;  heart infarction;  hospital admission;  hospitalization;  human;  hypercholesterolemia;  hypertension;  incidence;  intensive care unit;  interview;  ischemic stroke;  lockdown;  major clinical study;  middle aged;  National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale;  non ST segment elevation myocardial infarction;  observational study;  pandemic;  percutaneous coronary intervention;  peripheral occlusive artery disease;  smoking;  ST segment elevation myocardial infarction;  tertiary care center
TODO - 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. © The Author(s), 2021.
ER -