Decline in PCI for STEMI yet to return to pre-pandemic levels
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
ATLANTA — The monthly rate of PCI for STEMI dropped steadily at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, according to a speaker.
At the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Scientific Sessions, Manoj Thangam, MD, interventional cardiologist at Ascension Texas Cardiovascular in Austin, Texas, presented data showing that monthly PCI for STEMI decreased by 39 procedures per month on average across 42 sites in the Ascension health system since March 2020.
An analysis presented at the 2021 SCAI Scientific Sessions showed a significant decline in patients presenting with acute MI during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Healio previously reported, there was a 70% decline in patients presenting with acute MI from April 2020 vs. April 2019, and among those who sought care, more severe symptoms developed due to already delayed presentation.
For the present analysis, researchers completed a systemwide analysis across the Ascension health system using the internal National Cardiovascular Data Registry’s CathPCI registry. Data between March 2018 and June 2021 were collected to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital STEMI volumes.
Counterfactual values — predictions if the pandemic had not occurred — were compared with the actual number of PCIs performed during the study period to assess differences in STEMI volumes.
Researchers reported that use of PCI for STEMI was on the rise until the pandemic declaration in March 2020; then subsequently and rapidly decreased to its lowest point in April 2020, during the first COVID-19 wave. PCI for STEMI increased thereafter until the second wave in December 2020; however, the drop was less severe compared with the first in April.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers observed approximately 194 monthly PCIs for STEMI (95% CI, 182-207; P < .001), increasing by two PCIs per month (95% CI, 1-2.8; P < .001).
After the declaration of the pandemic in March 2020, PCI for STEMI decreased by approximately 39 procedures per month (95% CI, –60 to –18; P < .001).
Researchers reported that the monthly rate of PCI for STEMI has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
“Our network of PCI centers across the country gives us unique access to data that independent centers may not have,” Thangam said in a press release. “Despite STEMI rates rising, we’ve never gotten back to our pre-COVID baseline, which probably tells us there is still hesitation to come to the hospital despite having a major heart attack.”
Collapse
Thangam M, et al. Abstract 24. Presented at: Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Scientific Sessions; May 19-22, 2022; Atlanta.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts