Though hospitalizations for heart attacks dipped in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, they grew in April and May, an analysis of trends at a 49-hospital system shows.
The study, published in JAMA Cardiology, examined hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks) that occurred between Dec. 30, 2018, and May 16 within Renton, Wash.-based Providence St Joseph Health. The system includes 49 hospitals in six states: Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon, California and Texas.
Researchers studied 15,244 AMI hospitalizations for heart attacks, involving 14,724 patients. The average weekly case rate for heart attacks was 222 patients from December 2018 through Feb. 22.
They found that fromFeb. 23 through March 28, hospitalizations for heart attacks decreased at a rate of 19 cases per week. From March 29 to May 16, hospitalizations for heart attacks increased at a rate of 10.5 cases per week.
Despite the increase, weekly heart attack-related hospitalization rates had not returned to pre-pandemic levels by the week of May 10, the last week evaluated.