Heart attack patients putting their lives at risk by treatment delay
People suffering heart attacks during the coronavirus outbreak may be putting their lives at risk by delaying seeking medical help according to a leading charity.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) say there has been a 50 per cent drop in A&E attendances for people experiencing symptoms and are urging people to call 999 without delay.
Although the new data is from hospitals across England it mirrors a suspected pattern north of the border where deaths of all causes last week were 60 per cent above average for the time of year - but fewer than half were attributed to coronavirus.
The BHF is warning that thousands of people may be at greater risk of suffering long term heart damage, needing intensive care, or even dying as a result.
In a separate survey 14 Scottish cardiologists were polled from a total of 167 Uk-wide with 12 reporting a decrease in the number of people coming to their hospitals with an acute St-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) - a serious heart attack where one of the major arteries is blocked.
A further 11 out of the 12 (91 per cent) of the doctors who reported a decrease in patients coming into hospital with STEMI believed this was because they wer afraid of being exposed to Covid-19.
Gregor Smith, the interim chief medical officer for Scotland, had said clinicians and nurses had warned that A&E wards across the country were ‘eerily quiet’ with reports of patients waiting until they are at ‘deaths door’ before seeking treatment.
The new data show the number of people attending emergency departments in England with symptoms of a possible heart attack dropped from an average of around 300 per day at the beginning of March, to around 150 per day recorded by the end of March. According to the BHF, this 50 per cent drop is equivalent to approximately 5000 of the expected people every month, or more than 1100 people every week, with possible heart attack symptoms not being seen in emergency departments.
In another survey of six heart attack centres in London, where the rates of Covid-19 are highest, there was an average drop of 38 per cent in the number of emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures carried out to treat heart attacks in the second half of March this year compared to the same period last year. The BHF says Ukwide this could lead to unnecessary deaths and more people living with debilitating heart failure if they do recover.