Author(s)

Clarice Teixeira Silva Araújo¹, Arnon Salviato Mameri², Thúlio Carrera Guarçoni Venturini³, Marcus Tadeu Aguilar Constantino Matos², Igor Morais Araujo Lopes², Luiz Gustavo Ribeiro de Carvalho Murad⁴, Cleberson Duartes Ovani⁵, Guilherme Vassalo Morais², Fernanda Venturini de Castro², Danielle Lopes Rocha⁶, Lucas Crespo de Barros², Rodolfo Costa Sylvestre², Luiz Fernando Machado Barbosa², Roberto Ramos Barbosa^2*

¹Internal Medicine, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória, Brazil.
²Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória, Vitória, Brazil.
³Hospital Santa Rita de Cássia, Vitória, Brazil.
⁴Hospital Estadual Dr. Jayme Santos Neves, Serra, Brazil.
⁵Grupo Kora Saúde, Vitória, Brazil.
⁶Hospital Estadual Infantil e Maternidade Alzir Bernardino Alves (HIMABA), Vila Velha, Brazil.

Introduction: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a drop in the number of patients treated for cardiac emergencies raised concern about cardiovascular mortality in that period. An increase in care delay for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) may have affected clinical outcomes. Objectives: To analyze delay times and clinical outcomes of patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Retrospective observational study that included patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI from December 2018 to July 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic cases were divided into two groups: pandemic I—from March to August 2020; and pandemic II—from September 2020 to July 2021. Patients were compared according to the period of hospitalization. Primary outcomes were delay times in assistance and clinical outcomes (acute kidney injury [AKI], post-procedural vascular complications and in-hospital mortality). Results: 108 patients were included, 39 (36.1%) in the pre-pandemic period, 13 (12.1%) in pandemic I and 56 (51.8%) in pandemic II. Time from onset of symptoms to arrival at the service and door-to-balloon time did not differ significantly among groups. Vascular complications were more frequent during the pandemic (I and II) than in the pre-pandemic period (2.5% pre-pandemic vs 15.4% pandemic vs 12.5% pandemic II; p = 0.03). AKI incidence was similar in all three periods. There was a non-significant increase in in-hospital mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: In patients with STEMI, there was an increase in vascular complications and a trend toward increased mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Delay times to admission and reperfusion did not differ significantly between before and during the pandemic.

Myocardial Infarction, Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, Coronary Reperfusion, Pandemic, COVID-19

Araújo, C. , Mameri, A. , Venturini, T. , Matos, M. , Lopes, I. , Murad, L. , Ovani, C. , Morais, G. , Castro, F. , Rocha, D. , Barros, L. , Sylvestre, R. , Barbosa, L. and Barbosa, R. (2024) Delay Times and Clinical Outcomes in Acute Myocardial Infarction: Comparison of Periods before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic
—Myocardial Infarction and the Pandemic. World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases, 14, 392-400. doi: 10.4236/wjcd.2024.146033.