Fifty percent of heart attack patients stopped going to hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic due to fears of contracting the virus, a worldwide survey by the European Society of Cardiology showed.
ESC surveyed 3,101 healthcare professionals from 141 countries in mid-April.
Hospital clinicians and nurses reported a noticeable drop in heart attack patients coming to hospitals. On average, clinicians reported a 50 percent decrease.
Of patients who did go to the hospital, 48 percent arrived past the optimal window for treatment.
Clinicians said patients who had a heart attack had a 28 percent increase in life-threatening complications during the pandemic, according to a separate survey by the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions.
ESC President Dr. Barbara Casadei was alarmed by the findings: "The risk of dying of a heart attack is much greater than that of dying of COVID-19. Moreover, cardiac death is largely preventable if patients with a heart attack come to hospital in time to get treatment. What we are witnessing is an unnecessary loss of life. Our priority must be to stop this from happening."