Impact of the First COVID-19 Wave on French Hospitalizations for Myocardial Infarction and Stroke: A Retrospective Cohort Study

• Published in: Biomedicines Vol. 10; no. 10; p. 2501
• Main Authors: Mariet, Anne-Sophie, Duloquin, Gauthier, Benzenine, Eric, Roussot, Adrien, Pommier, Thibaut, Eicher, Jean-Christophe, Baptiste, Laura, Giroud, Maurice, Cottin, Yves, Béjot, Yannick, Quantin, Catherine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-10-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Cardiology and cardiovascular system; Cerebral infarction; Cohort analysis; Coronavirus Disease 2019; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Diabetes mellitus; Emergency medical care; Emerging diseases; Heart attack; Heart attacks; Hospitalization; Human health and pathology; Infectious diseases; Life Sciences; lockdown; Mortality; Myocardial infarction; Pandemics; Patient admissions; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; spatial autocorrelation; Spatial distribution; Statistics; Stroke; Transient ischemic attack; France; United States > US; lockdown; Coronavirus Disease 2019; spatial autocorrelation; transient ischemic attack; stroke; myocardial infarction
• ISSN: 2227-9059; 2227-9059
• DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10102501

The COVID-19 pandemic modified the management of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. We aimed to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the volume and spatial distribution of hospitalizations for MI and stroke, before, during and after the first nationwide lockdown in France in 2020, compared with 2019. Hospitalization data were extracted from the French National Discharge database. Patient’s characteristics were compared according to COVID-19 status. Changes in hospitalization rates over time were measured using interrupted time series analysis. Possible spatial patterns of over or under-hospitalization rates were investigated using Moran’s indices. We observed a rapid and significant drop in hospitalizations just before the beginning of the lockdown with a nadir at 36.5% for MI and 31.2% for stroke. Hospitalization volumes returned to those seen in 2019 four weeks after the end of the lockdown, except for MI, which rebounded excessively. Older age, male sex, elevated rate of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and mortality characterized COVID-19 patients. There was no evidence of a change in the spatial pattern of over- or under-hospitalization clusters over the three periods. After a steep drop, only MI showed a significant rebound after the first lockdown with no change in the spatial distribution of hospitalizations.