Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine (Aug 2022)

Longer Hospitalizations and Higher In-Hospital Mortality for Acute Heart Failure during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Larger vs. Smaller Cardiology Departments: Subanalysis of the COV-HF-SIRIO 6 Multicenter Study

  • Małgorzata Ostrowska,
  • Michał Kasprzak,
  • Wioleta Stolarek,
  • Klaudyna Grzelakowska,
  • Jacek Kryś,
  • Aldona Kubica,
  • Piotr Adamski,
  • Przemysław Podhajski,
  • Eliano Pio Navarese,
  • Edyta Anielska-Michalak,
  • Oliwia Matuszewska-Brycht,
  • Andrzej Curzytek,
  • Aneta Dudek,
  • Leszek Gromadziński,
  • Paweł Grzelakowski,
  • Leszek Kamiński,
  • Andrzej Kleinrok,
  • Marcin Kostkiewicz,
  • Marek Koziński,
  • Paweł Król,
  • Tomasz Kulawik,
  • Gleb Minczew,
  • Marcin Mindykowski,
  • Agnieszka Pawlak,
  • Janusz Prokopczuk,
  • Grzegorz Skonieczny,
  • Bożena Sobkowicz,
  • Sergiusz Sowiński,
  • Sebastian Stankala,
  • Paweł Szymański,
  • Andrzej Wester,
  • Przemysław Wilczewski,
  • Stanisław Bartuś,
  • Andrzej Budaj,
  • Robert Gajda,
  • Mariusz Gąsior,
  • Marcin Gruchała,
  • Jarosław Drożdż,
  • Miłosz Jaguszewski,
  • Piotr Jankowski,
  • Jacek Legutko,
  • Maciej Lesiak,
  • Przemysław Leszek,
  • Przemysław Mitkowski,
  • Jadwiga Nessler,
  • Anna Tomaszuk-Kazberuk,
  • Agnieszka Tycińska,
  • Tomasz Zdrojewski,
  • Jarosław Kaźmierczak,
  • Jacek Kubica

DOI
https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2309292
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 9
p. 292

Abstract

Read online

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is surging across Poland, leading to many direct deaths and underestimated collateral damage. We aimed to compare the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admissions and in-hospital mortality in larger vs. smaller cardiology departments (i.e., with ≥2000 vs. <2000 hospitalizations per year in 2019). Methods: We performed a subanalysis of the COV-HF-SIRIO 6 multicenter retrospective study including all patients hospitalized in 24 cardiology departments in Poland between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020, focusing on patients with acute heart failure (AHF) and COVID-19. Results: Total number of hospitalizations was reduced by 29.2% in larger cardiology departments and by 27.3% in smaller cardiology departments in 2020 vs. 2019. While hospitalizations for AHF were reduced by 21.8% and 25.1%, respectively. The length of hospital stay due to AHF in 2020 was 9.6 days in larger cardiology departments and 6.6 days in smaller departments (p < 0.001). In-hospital mortality for AHF during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly higher in larger vs. smaller cardiology departments (10.7% vs. 3.2%; p < 0.001). In-hospital mortality for concomitant AHF and COVID-19 was extremely high in larger and smaller cardiology departments accounting for 31.3% vs. 31.6%, respectively. Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic longer hospitalizations and higher in-hospital mortality for AHF were observed in larger vs. smaller cardiology departments. Reduced hospital admissions and extremely high in-hospital mortality for concomitant AHF and COVID-19 were noted regardless of department size.

Keywords