Background The fear of contagion during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have potentially refrained patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) from accessing the emergency system, with subsequent impact on mortality. Objectives The ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 registry aims to estimate the true impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment and outcome of patients with STEMI treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), with identification of “at-risk” patient cohorts for failure to present or delays to treatment. Methods This retrospective registry was performed in European high-volume PPCI centers and assessed patients with STEMI treated with PPPCI in March/April 2019 and 2020. Main outcomes are the incidences of PPCI, delayed treatment, and in-hospital mortality. Results A total of 6,609 patients underwent PPCI in 77 centers, located in 18 countries. In 2020, during the pandemic, there was a significant reduction in PPCI as compared with 2019 (incidence rate ratio: 0.811; 95% confidence interval: 0.78 to 0.84; p < 0.0001). The heterogeneity among centers was not related to the incidence of death due to COVID-19. A significant interaction was observed for patients with arterial hypertension, who were less frequently admitted in 2020 than in 2019. Furthermore, the pandemic was associated with a significant increase in door-to-balloon and total ischemia times, which may have contributed to the higher mortality during the pandemic. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on the treatment of patients with STEMI, with a 19% reduction in PPCI procedures, especially among patients suffering from hypertension, and a longer delay to treatment, which may have contributed to the increased mortality during the pandemic. (Primary Angioplasty for STEMI During COVID-19 Pandemic [ISACS-STEMI COVID-19] Registry; NCT04412655 ).

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Background and aims SARS-Cov-2 predisposes patients to thrombotic complications, due to excessive inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, platelet activation, and coagulation/fibrinolysis disturbances. The aim of the present study was to evaluate clinical characteristics and prognostic impact of SARS-CoV-2 positivity among STEMI patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). Methods We selected SARS-CoV-2 positive patients included in the ISACS-STEMI COVID-19, a retrospective multicenter European registry including 6609 STEMI patients treated with PPCI from March 1 until April 30, 2019 and 2020. As a reference group, we randomly sampled 5 SARS-Cov-2 negative patients per each SARS-CoV-2 positive patient, individually matched for age, sex, and hospital/geographic area. Study endpoints were in-hospital mortality, definite stent thrombosis, heart failure. Results Our population is represented by 62 positive SARS-CoV-2 positive patients who were compared with a matched population of 310 STEMI patients. No significant difference was observed in baseline characteristics or modality of access to the PCI center. In the SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, the culprit lesion was more often located in the RCA ( p < 0.001). Despite similar pre and postprocedural TIMI flow, we observed a trend in higher use of GP IIb-IIIa inhibitors and significantly higher use of thrombectomy in the SARS-CoV-2 positive patients. SARS-CoV-2 positivity was associated with a remarkably higher in hospital mortality (29 % vs 5.5 %, p < 0.001), definite in-stent thrombosis (8.1 % vs 1.6 %, p = 0.004) and heart failure (22.6 % vs 10.6 %, p = 0.001) that was confirmed after adjustment for confounding factors. Conclusions Our study showed that among STEMI patients, SARS-CoV-2 positivity is associated with larger thrombus burden, a remarkably higher mortality but also higher rates of in-stent thrombosis and heart failure.

Background It has been suggested the COVID pandemic may have indirectly affected the treatment and outcome of STEMI patients, by avoidance or significant delays in contacting the emergency system. No data have been reported on the impact of diabetes on treatment and outcome of STEMI patients, that was therefore the aim of the current subanalysis conducted in patients included in the International Study on Acute Coronary Syndromes–ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (ISACS-STEMI) COVID-19. Methods The ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 is a retrospective registry performed in European centers with an annual volume of > 120 primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and assessed STEMI patients, treated with primary PCI during the same periods of the years 2019 versus 2020 (March and April). Main outcomes are the incidences of primary PCI, delayed treatment, and in-hospital mortality. Results A total of 6609 patients underwent primary PCI in 77 centers, located in 18 countries. Diabetes was observed in a total of 1356 patients (20.5%), with similar proportion between 2019 and 2020. During the pandemic, there was a significant reduction in primary PCI as compared to 2019, similar in both patients with (Incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.79 (95% CI: 0.73–0.85, p < 0.0001) and without diabetes (IRR 0.81 (95% CI: 0.78–0.85, p < 0.0001) (p int = 0.40). We observed a significant heterogeneity among centers in the population with and without diabetes (p < 0.001, respectively). The heterogeneity among centers was not related to the incidence of death due to COVID-19 in both groups of patients. Interaction was observed for Hypertension (p = 0.024) only in absence of diabetes. Furthermore, the pandemic was independently associated with a significant increase in door-to-balloon and total ischemia times only among patients without diabetes, which may have contributed to the higher mortality, during the pandemic, observed in this group of patients. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the treatment of patients with STEMI, with a similar reduction in primary PCI procedures in both patients with and without diabetes. Hypertension had a significant impact on PCI reduction only among patients without diabetes. We observed a significant increase in ischemia time and door-to-balloon time mainly in absence of diabetes, that contributed to explain the increased mortality observed in this group of patients during the pandemic. Trial registration number: NCT 04412655.

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