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. 2021 Feb:32:100720.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijcha.2021.100720. Epub 2021 Jan 19.

COVID-19 and STEMI: The role of telecardiology in the management of STEMI diagnosis during COVID 19 pandemic

Silvana De Bonis  1 , Nadia Salerno  1 , Antonio Bisignani  2 , Antonio Capristo  3 , Gennaro Sosto  4 , Antonella Verta  3 , Riccardo Borselli  5 , Cristina Capristo  3 , Giovanni Bisignani  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 and STEMI: The role of telecardiology in the management of STEMI diagnosis during COVID 19 pandemic

Silvana De Bonis et al. Int J Cardiol Heart Vasc. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Telecardiology has the advantage of reducing patient's access time to the hemodynamics units. Data from literature show a reduction in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) during COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a low number of studies on the impact of telecardiology during the pandemic.

Methods: Our telecardiology system is composed of a Hub-and-Spoke network of hospitals and ambulances that ensures a rapid exchange of information allowing STEMI patients to be treated in the shortest time possible. We compared data from electrocardiograms (ECGs) transmissions and STEMI diagnosis collected between February and April 2020 with the data from the same period of 2019.

Results: Despite a significant reduction of ECGs transmissions from the telecardiology network was observed, the number of diagnosed STEMI during 2020 was stable and did not show any significant difference compared to 2019. The total number of STEMI diagnosis in the months under examination during 2019 were 47 out of 7463 ECGs (0.63%), while in 2020 were 48 out of 5797 ECGs (0.83%).

Conclusions: The efficiency of our telecardiology system along with the low spread of the infection in our region contributed to maintaining the number of STEMI diagnosis and patient's care in line with the past even during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health services; STEMI; Telecardiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Number of transmissions from ER (Emergency room), FAC (First Aid centers) and ambulances per month with the number of diagnosed STEMI. (B) Comparison of total number of transmissions for 2019 and 2020 (during COVID-19 pandemic). (C) Comparison of total number of STEMI for 2019 and 2020 (during COVID-19 pandemic).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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