Factors Underlying Reduced Hospitalizations for Myocardial Infarction During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

The incidence of hospital encounters for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) decreased sharply early in the COVID-19 pandemic and has not returned to prepandemic levels. There has been an ongoing debate about what mechanism may underlie this decline, including patients avoiding the hospital for treatment, excess mortality from COVID-19 among patients who would otherwise have had an AMI, a reduction in the incidence or severity of AMIs due to pandemic-related changes in behavior, or a preexisting temporal trend of lower AMI incidence.

Objective

To describe drivers of changing incidence in AMI hospital encounters during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design, setting, and participants

This cross-sectional study used traditional Medicare claims from all patients enrolled

SUBMITTER: Wilcock AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11292572 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature