Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the provision of health care and disease management around the world. COVID-19 carries a high morbidity and mortality rate in elderly and people with comorbidities, including heart failure (HF). The present study addressed the clinical management and outcomes of HF patients during the pandemic. Methods: We evaluated the clinical management and survival rate of HF patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel (March 2020–April 2021). Results: The cohort included 6748 patients with a diagnosis of HF during the study period. During this period, 843 HF patients (12.5%) were infected with COVID-19, and 194 died from COVID-19, a 23% mortality rate. Patients infected with COVID-19 had a higher percentage of diabetes and obesity. Predictors of mortality included age, male sex, reduced functional capacity, renal dysfunction, and absence of renin–angiotensin system inhibition. During the pandemic, there was a marked decrease in the usage of medical services in the cohort. Cardiovascular hospitalizations, all hospitalization, and emergency room visits were significantly decreased compared to the two years prior to the pandemic, particularly during the lockdowns. There was also an initial decrease in HF clinic visits. Mortality rates were very similar during the pandemic compared to previous years. There was a decline in non-COVID-19 deaths, which were replaced with deaths due to COVID-19. This may result from competing effects and reduced exposure to respiratory infections and other insults due to social distancing. Conclusions: Mortality rates in HF patients infected with COVID-19 were high. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the reduced usage of health services but without increased overall mortality.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the novel coronavirus SARSCoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has evolved into an international public health crisis
There were three waves of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Israel during the pandemic study patients. These waves were associated with peaks of the death rates in the period (Figure 1A). This paralleled with a corresponding peak infection rate in the heart failure (HF) pageneral and the cohort, which declined following three nationwide lockdowns
Likely to be d but that mortality rates were higher in HF patients; in this cohort, the mortality rate was nosed with SARS-Cov2 viral infection compared to the general population in Israel
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the novel coronavirus SARSCoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has evolved into an international public health crisis It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on. Methods: We evaluated the clinical management and survival rate of HF patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel (March 2020–April 2021). Results: The cohort included 6748 patients with a diagnosis of HF during the study period During this period, 843 HF patients (12.5%) were infected with COVID-19, and 194 died from COVID-19, a 23% mortality rate. There was a decline in non-COVID-19 deaths, which were replaced with deaths due to COVID-19 This may result from competing effects and reduced exposure to respiratory infections and other insults due to social distancing. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the reduced usage of health services but without increased overall mortality
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call