Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitalizations for acute coronary syndromes: a multinational study

Abstract Background COVID-19 has challenged the health system organization requiring a fast reorganization of diagnostic/therapeutic pathways for patients affected by time-dependent diseases such as acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Aim To describe ACS hospitalizations, management, and complication rate before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. Design Ecological retrospective study. Methods: We analyzed aggregated epidemiological data of all patients > 18 years old admitted for ACS in twenty-nine hub cardiac centers from 17 Countries across 4 continents, from December 1st, 2019 to April 15th, 2020. Data from December 2018 to April 2019 were used as historical period. Results…