Where are all the heart attacks - Printable Version
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Where are all the heart attacks - BostonCard - 04-20-2020
New study looked at STEMI activations (acute heart attacks that require a balloon angioplasty and stent placement), and found that across 9 high volume cardiac cath centers, STEMI activations are down almost 40%.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720349135
Some speculation as to why in the article. Not mentioned... maybe COVID-19 prevents heart attacks.
BC
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - 2006alum - 04-20-2020
(04-20-2020, 06:57 PM)BostonCard Wrote: New study looked at STEMI activations (acute heart attacks that require a balloon angioplasty and stent placement), and found that across 9 high volume cardiac cath centers, STEMI activations are down almost 40%.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720349135
Some speculation as to why in the article. Not mentioned... maybe COVID-19 prevents heart attacks.
BC
I would imagine some of it could be due to the reduction in events that trigger heart attacks - travel and flying, vigorous activity, stressful commutes, etc., have all been greatly scaled back. Sitting on the couch watching Netflix or working from home staring at a laptop screen all day is hardly fun, but it's certainly lower stress and lower impact than a lot of day-to-day activities in pre-COVID-19 life.
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - magnus - 04-20-2020
Could it be that covid19 deaths are preempting these heart attacks?
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - cardcrimson - 04-20-2020
(04-20-2020, 07:03 PM)2006alum Wrote:(04-20-2020, 06:57 PM)BostonCard Wrote: New study looked at STEMI activations (acute heart attacks that require a balloon angioplasty and stent placement), and found that across 9 high volume cardiac cath centers, STEMI activations are down almost 40%.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109720349135
Some speculation as to why in the article. Not mentioned... maybe COVID-19 prevents heart attacks.
BC
I would imagine some of it could be due to the reduction in events that trigger heart attacks - travel and flying, vigorous activity, stressful commutes, etc., have all been greatly scaled back. Sitting on the couch watching Netflix or working from home staring at a laptop screen all day is hardly fun, but it's certainly lower stress and lower impact than a lot of day-to-day activities in pre-COVID-19 life.
Yet again you're missing a critical perspective. What about the men locked up 24/7 with menopausal wives and early teen daughters? I'll die of a stroke or heart attack way, way before Mick dies of Covid.
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - oldalum - 04-20-2020
I read somewhere an article, I think by an emergency medicine physician, that the cardiologists at his hospital were treating patients with TPA rather than taking them to the cath lab. Maybe it was in NYC and was due to shortages of PPE, I don't remember. If true, it raises some questions . . .
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - BostonCard - 04-20-2020
(04-20-2020, 08:42 PM)oldalum Wrote: I read somewhere an article, I think by an emergency medicine physician, that the cardiologists at his hospital were treating patients with TPA rather than taking them to the cath lab. Maybe it was in NYC and was due to shortages of PPE, I don't remember. If true, it raises some questions . . .
Mentioned as a positive explanation in the article, but this is substandard care. Particularly in high volume cath labs, this is bad.
BC
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - burger - 04-20-2020
If this effect is real, how about air pollution? Pollution kills something like 100,000 Americans a year. The air quality is the best now it's been in decades.
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - stupac2 - 04-21-2020
(04-20-2020, 09:49 PM)burger Wrote: If this effect is real, how about air pollution? Pollution kills something like 100,000 Americans a year. The air quality is the best now it's been in decades.
I thought that was a chronic rather than acute thing. I'm sure the studies coming out of this will be fascinating, maybe we can finally start to have some real momentum behind cleaning up our air.
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - burger - 04-21-2020
(04-21-2020, 08:40 AM)stupac2 Wrote:(04-20-2020, 09:49 PM)burger Wrote: If this effect is real, how about air pollution? Pollution kills something like 100,000 Americans a year. The air quality is the best now it's been in decades.
I thought that was a chronic rather than acute thing. I'm sure the studies coming out of this will be fascinating, maybe we can finally start to have some real momentum behind cleaning up our air.
Maybe it's acute also? I'm only cursorily familiar with this research, and I might be totally wrong. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/air-pollutions-tiny-particles-may-trigger-nonfatal-heart-attacks-study-finds
I agree that this is an unparalleled opportunity to demonstrate how clean the air could be if we reduce pollution. I don't expect things to ever be this good again pollution-wise, but we can do a lot better than we were doing.
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - here4WBB - 04-21-2020
For what it's worth, here's my experience of having to go to the ER for a non-COVID-19 medical problem. I paid a visit to the Stanford ER Sunday morning due to a kidney stone. I had extreme pain, chills, and vomiting. The on-call nurse at my doctor's office told me to get to the ER for immediate evaluation and I felt horrible, so I donned a mask and my husband drove me. We were greeted curbside and a nurse took my information through the window, including taking a picture of my ID. I've been SiP for five weeks and had no temp, no sore throat or cough. I was seated outside in a row of chairs placed six feet apart against the wall of the building. They had space heaters for us. A nurse took my vitals and eventually I was walked past a system of concrete barriers along the side of the building directly into an ER ward. Everyone is given a private room with an industrial type of fan/ blower. Full glass doors and curtains. The nurse hooked me up to an EKG and pulse oximeter while I spoke to another nurse via an iPad mounted next to the bed. (More zoom ... ) My stay was five hours, I had personal in-room contact with 5 nurses and 1 doctor. Everyone was exceptionally kind and calm. They did the normal labs, gave me fluids and an anti-nausea med via iv, and the doctor did a bedside ultrasound. From what I was told, all patients admitted to the hospital are tested for COVID-19. I was not tested.
My impression is that I was placed in a low-risk area of the ER (precautions taken with fan, masks, handwashing). Nurses were not wearing gloves except during the insertion of the iv, which is proper procedure. I asked the doctor if I needed to quarantine from my husband when I returned home. He said "no. you have not been around any positive cases. Being here is no more risk than a trip to the grocery store." (For five hours, though ...) Everyone I interacted with wore a mask.
I came home, left my clothes and shoes at the door and showered. I have not quarantined from my husband. So far no more renal colic and no signs of the virus. Time will tell. I am fortunate, and privileged enough to have medical insurance and access to Stanford Hospital. The little I hear from friends working there is that they have COVID-19 cases but have not been overwhelmed. I imagine my decisions would have been much more difficult if I were in NYC or another hard hit area.
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - 2006alum - 04-21-2020
Thanks for sharing, here4WBB. Glad to hear it's nothing serious and fingers crossed you are back to normal soon!
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - here4WBB - 04-21-2020
Thanks, 2006alum! I hope that people won't hesitate to go to the ER with serious problems -- it is risky, of course, but for now there is good care available.
quote="2006alum" pid='277782' dateline='1587494990']
Thanks for sharing, here4WBB. Glad to hear it's nothing serious and fingers crossed you are back to normal soon!
[/quote]
RE: Where are all the heart attacks - fullmetal - 04-21-2020
I heard some interviews with NYC EMTs that the number of presumed-covid cardiac calls has gone out the roof recently...and that these were all patients they couldn't save :(