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. 2023 Mar 25;85(4):884-891.
doi: 10.1097/MS9.0000000000000328. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Effect of COVID-19 on cardiac electrophysiology practice: a systematic review of literature

Talal Almas  1 , Maryam Ehtesham  2 , Alishba A Khan  3 , Rahul K Ramtohul  2 , Maheen Nazir  3 , Syed M J Zaidi  3   4 , Abdulla K Alsubai  2 , Haya Al-Ansari  2   5 , Muhammad Awais  6 , Reema Alsufyani  2 , Majid Alsufyani  2 , Abdulla Almesri  2 , Hebatalla Ismail  2 , Sebastian Hadeed  2 , Jahanzeb Malik  3   4
Affiliations

Effect of COVID-19 on cardiac electrophysiology practice: a systematic review of literature

Talal Almas et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). .

Abstract

The authors conducted a systematic review on the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 on electrophysiology (EP) practice and procedure volume in various settings. This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Embase were examined with combinations of medical subject headings terms for identification of the relevant studies. After excluding duplicates, irrelevant, and ineligible studies, 23 studies were included for full qualitative analysis. The overall study-level volume reduction of EP procedures ranged from 8 to 96.7%. All studies reported an overall reduction in EP physiology procedures being carried out except one in Poland, which reported an overall increase in the total EP procedures carried out in 2020. This study still reported a decrease in EP procedure volume during the first lockdown phase. Procedural volume reduction was seen most commonly for cardiovascular implantable electronic device placement (20/23 studies, 86.9%), electrophysiology studies (11/23 studies, 47.8%), and ablations (9/23, 39.1% studies). The most common reason stated for the observed decline in EP procedures was the cancellation and postponement of nonurgent elective cases in the hospitals (15/23 studies, 65.2%). There has been an overall reduction in EP procedure volume across different centers. The impact of the decline in EP procedures will be seen only after the services resume to prepandemic levels, but an increase in-patient volume and procedure waiting time is expected. This review will provide insights into improving healthcare service delivery in times of unprecedented public health emergencies.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; catheter ablation; elective procedures; electrophysiology; emergency treatment; implantable cardioverter defibrillator; pacemaker.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Quality assessment (Newcastle–Ottawa scale).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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