The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiology services
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 27 August 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by BMJ in Open Heart
- Vol. 7 (2), e001359
- https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2020-001359
Abstract
Objective The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in prioritisation of National Health Service (NHS) resources to cope with the surge in infected patients. However, there have been no studies in the UK looking at the effect of the COVID-19 work pattern on the provision of cardiology services. We aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on cardiology services and clinical activity. Methods We analysed key performance indicators in cardiology services in a single centre in the UK in the periods prior to and during lockdown to assess reduction or changes in service provision. Results There has been a greater than 50% drop in the number of patients presenting to cardiology and those diagnosed with myocardial infarction. All areas of cardiology service provision sustained significant reductions, which included outpatient clinics, investigations, procedures and cardiology community services such as heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation. Conclusions As ischaemic heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death nationally and globally, cardiology services need to prepare for a significant increase in workload in the recovery phase and develop new pathways to urgently help those adversely affected by the changes in service provision.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Cardiovascular disease and the impact of COVID‐19Journal of Cardiac Surgery, 2020
- COVID-19 and Cardiovascular DiseaseCirculation, 2020
- Cancer Patient Care during COVID-19Cancer Cell, 2020
- Assessing the impact of lockdown: Fresh challenges for the care of haematology patients in the COVID‐19 pandemicBritish Journal of Haematology, 2020
- COVID-19 and Multiorgan ResponseCurrent Problems in Cardiology, 2020
- COVID-19 and Italy: what next?The Lancet, 2020
- Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010The Lancet, 2012