Influence of the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Management of Patients with ST-T Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global health crisis. This prospective, observational, single-centre, cohort study investigated the influence of the second wave of the pandemic on the treatment of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients admitted to the largest tertiary centre in Nicosia, Cyprus. We measured onset-to-door (O2D) time, door-to-balloon (D2B) time, onset-to-balloon (O2B) time, and 30-day mortality for 250 consecutive patients who presented directly or were transferred to Nicosia General Hospital from 1 January 2021, to 31 December 2021, during the second wave of the pandemic in Cyprus. We compared a control group of patients with similar clinical characteristics admitted before the COVID-19 outbreak. Median O2D time was increased from 89 min to 120 min (p-value=0.094). D2B time was not increased significantly (85.5 vs. 87 min, p-value=0.137). The total ischemic time (O2B time) was increased from 173.5 min to 232.5 min, respectively (173.5 vs. 232.5, p=0.001). During the pandemic, more patients presented with cardiogenic shock (3.94 vs. 13.6, p=0.001) and with cardiac arrest (9.85 vs. 17.2, p=0.035,) while there was an increase in 30-day mortality (4.43% vs. 8.8%, p-value=0.100). Patients with STEMI during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic seem to have presentation delays with increased total ischaemic times, presented more commonly in cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest, increasing 30-day mortality.