Open AccessEffects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on heart failure hospitalizations in Japan: interrupted time series analysis
Author(s) -
Morishita Tetsuji,
Takada Daisuke,
Shin Jungho,
Higuchi Takuya,
Kunisawa Susumu,
Fushimi Kiyohide,
Imanaka Yuichi
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
esc heart failure
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.787
H-Index - 25
ISSN - 2055-5822
DOI - 10.1002/ehf2.13744
Subject(s) - medicine , pandemic , heart failure , medical prescription , covid-19 , confidence interval , angiotensin receptor blockers , emergency medicine , emergency department , cardiology , angiotensin converting enzyme , disease , blood pressure , infectious disease (medical specialty) , psychiatry , pharmacology
Aims The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic has had unprecedented effects on health care utilization for acute cardiovascular diseases. Although hospitalizations for acute coronary syndrome decreased during the COVID‐19 pandemic, there is a paucity of data on the trends and management of heart failure (HF) cases. Furthermore, concerns have been raised that angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) may increase susceptibility to COVID‐19. This study aimed to elucidate changes in HF hospitalizations from the COVID‐19 state of emergency in Japan and investigated changes in the prescription of ACEIs and ARBs, and in‐hospital mortality. Methods and results We performed an interrupted time series analysis of HF hospitalizations in Japan to verify the impacts of the COVID‐19 state of emergency. Changes in the weekly volume of HF hospitalizations were taken as the primary outcome measure. Between 1 April 2018 and 4 July 2020, 109 429 HF cases required admission. After the state of emergency, an immediate decrease was observed in HF cases per week [−3.6%; 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.3% to −6.7%, P = 0.03]. There was no significant change in the prescription of ACEIs or ARBs after the state of emergency (4.2%; 95% CI: −0.3% to 8.9%, P = 0.07). The COVID‐19 pandemic had no effect on in‐hospital mortality among HF patients (5.3%; 95% CI: −4.9% to 16.6%, P = 0.32). Conclusions We demonstrated a decline in HF hospitalizations during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan, with no clear evidence of a negative effect on the prescription of ACEIs and ARBs or in‐hospital mortality.