Background:
Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV2) infection (COVID-19) has affected many countries globally. During COVID-19 lockdown, there has been a reduction in emergency room presentations and subsequent hospital admissions for many diseases.
Objective:
Our aim was to find out the statusof heart failure (HF) cases treated in the hospitals of during COVID-19 lockdown period, and to compare these with those cases treated during no-lockdown period and highlight the possible reasons for variations.
Methods:
A retrospective observational study was carried out across the nine-private hospitals located in four different cities of Tamil Nadu state, Southern India. Data on HF and emergency room attendance were collected for lockdown period (April 2020) and no-lockdown period (February 2020 as well as April 2019 and 2018) and analysed statistically.
Results:
During the lockdown period, there were 30 to 33% reductions in the emergency room attendance, whereas the total HF cases were more than no-lockdown period. Among HF, the proportion of ischemic HF was decreased, but the proportion of non-ischemic HF was increased, and these were independent of gender and ejection fraction sub-category.
Discussion:
Our observations of reduction in ischemic HF was attributable to steep reduction in air quality index in these cities, and a rise in non-ischemic HF could be due to doctor centred practice, lack of doctor-patient communication, under-utilisation of healthcare technologies including telehealth services, and poor compliance resulting in acute decompensation.