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[Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on structural heart interventions in Italy]

Giuseppe Tarantini, Luca Nai Fovino, Andrea Scotti1

  • 1Dipartimento di Scienze Cardio-Toraco-Vascolari e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi, Padova.

Giornale Italiano Di Cardiologia (2006)
|December 9, 2020
PubMed

Insights

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a 79% reduction in structural heart interventions (SHI) in Italy. Procedures like patent foramen ovale closure saw greater declines than transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Interventional Cardiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread deferral of non-urgent medical procedures globally.
  • Healthcare systems worldwide experienced significant disruptions affecting patient care pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on interventional treatments for structural heart disease (SHD) in Italy.
  • To analyze changes in the volume of specific SHD procedures during the pandemic lockdown.

Main Methods:

  • A nationwide analysis compared structural heart interventions (SHI) during a 4-week lockdown period in 2020 with the same period in 2019.
  • Procedures analyzed included transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), percutaneous mitral valve repair (PMVR), left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO), and patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure.
  • Incidence rate reductions (IRR) were calculated using zero-inflated negative binomial regression.

Main Results:

  • Overall SHI volume in Italy decreased by 79% during the lockdown compared to the previous year (IRR 0.21).
  • Reductions were more pronounced for PFO closure (IRR 0.03), LAAO (IRR 0.11), and PMVR (IRR 0.12) compared to TAVR (IRR 0.31).

Conclusions:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a substantial 79% decrease in SHI procedures in Italy.
  • Specific procedures like PFO closure, LAAO, and PMVR experienced more significant declines than TAVR.
  • Further research is necessary to understand the long-term clinical outcomes for patients with SHD affected by these procedural reductions.
Abstract

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