There were twice as many cardiac arrests and a drop of almost 50% in the survival of these patients in Île-de-France during the Covid-19 epidemic.
- More than 90% of cardiac arrests took place at home.
- The number of cardiac arrests was twice as high during the first six weeks of confinement as usual.
- These cardiac arrests outside the hospital sector are collateral deaths from Covid-19.
There were 521 cardiac arrests recorded outside the hospital in the Paris region between March 17 and April 26, according to figures from the Ile-de-France register (Paris and Hauts de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de- Marne) of the Mort Subite Expertise Center (Paris-CEMS). These first six weeks of confinement have been more deadly than usual, with a rate of 26.6 cardiac arrests per million inhabitants. Between 2012 and 2019, at the same period, it was 13.4. This is almost double, as one study has pointed out. carried out by Eloi Marijon and Nicole Karam, from the Cardiovascular Research Center of Paris (Inserm/University of Paris), in collaboration with Daniel Jost (Brigade des sapeurs-pompiers de Paris) and recently published in the journal The Lancet Public Health.
90% of cardiac arrests took place at home
“The patient profile is the same as usual [2/3 d’hommes, autour de 69 ans]Eloi Marijon told AFP. On the other hand, more than 90% of the stops took place at home, with witnesses, most often the family, who practiced much less cardiac massage and longer help to arrive despite the empty roads.” This explains, according to the authors of the study, a reduction of almost 50% in the survival of patients because the earlier the cardiopulmonary resuscitation is performed, the higher the chances of survival. Yet, according to the researchers, only about 33% of these cardiac arrests “additional” would be directly associated with Covid-19.
Collateral deaths from Covid-19
How to explain such an increase? “There was a break in the medical follow-up of the patients because they could not consult, that they feared to interfere (…), or were afraid, for some, of being contaminated in the hospital”, details Professor Marijon. The renunciation of care for certain patients, in particular suffering from cardiac pathologies, may explain this increase. Other hypotheses are possible such as patient self-medication, physical inactivity, stress but also the possible difficulties in reaching the emergency services with longer waiting times. According to the authors of the study, these cardiac arrests outside the hospital sector are collateral deaths from Covid-19, even if they are not taken into account in official statistics.
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