Decline in acute coronary syndrome hospitalisation rates during COVID-19 lockdown in private hospitals in South Africa
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Date
Authors
Delport, Rhena
Vachiat, A.
Snyders, A.
Kettles, D.
Weich, H.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
South African Heart Association
Abstract
Cardiovascular presentation of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients with severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2), referred to as “COVID-19”, can be complex with varying presentations of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), stress cardiomyopathy, non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy, coronary spasm or non-specific myocardial injury. Concern has been expressed worldwide regarding the failure of patients with emergent ACS to access healthcare during the SARS-coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, which was declared to be a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 14 March 2020. The first COVID-19 case was diagnosed in South Africa on 5 March 2020. On 15 March 2020, the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, declared a national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002, and coronavirus alert level 5 lockdown regulations were applied to reduce the transmission of the virus from 27 March. Alert level 4 lockdown regulations were then made applicable from 1 May 2020. A marked decrease in the volume of patients presenting with ACS was observed during lockdown in April 2020 by one of the three major private hospital groups in South Africa.
Description
Keywords
Stress cardiomyopathy, Non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy, Coronary spasm or non-specific myocardial injury, COVID-19 pandemic, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Acute coronary syndrome (ACS), Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), Private hospital, South Africa (SA)
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Citation
Delport, R., Vachiat, A., Snyders, A., et al. 2020, 'Decline in acute coronary syndrome hospitalisation rates during COVID-19 lockdown in private hospitals in South Africa', SA Heart, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 264–265.