1. Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical activities related to arrhythmias and electrophysiology in Italy: results of a survey promoted by AIAC (Italian Association of Arrhythmology and Cardiac Pacing)
- Author
-
Boriani, G., Palmisano, P., Guerra, F., Bertini, M., Zanotto, G., Lavalle, C., Notarstefano, P., Accogli, M., Bisignani, G., Forleo, G. B., Landolina, M., D'Onofrio, A., Ricci, R., De Ponti, R., Luise, R., Grieco, P., Pangallo, A., Quirino, G., Talarico, A., De Bonis, S., Carbone, A., De Simone, A., Nappi, F., Rotondi, F., Stabile, G., Uran, C., Balla, C., Boggian, G., Carinci, V., Barbato, G., Corzani, A., Sabbatani, P., Erminio, M., Imberti, J. F., Malavasi, N., Pastori, P., Quartieri, F., Bottoni, N., Saporito, D., Virzi, S., Sassone, B., Zardini, M., Placci, A., Ziacchi, M., Massaro, G., Adamo, F., Scaccia, A., Spampinato, A., Biscione, F., Castro, A., Cauti, F., Rossi, P., Cinti, C., Gatto, M., Kol, A., Narducci, M. L., Pelargonio, G., Patruno, N., Pignalberi, C., Ricci, R. P., Ricciardi, D., Santini, L., Tancredi, M., Di Belardino, N., Pentimalli, F., Zoni-Berisso, M., Belotti, G., Chieffo, E., Cilloni, S., Doni, L. A., Gardini, A., Malaspina, D., Mazzone, P., Della Bella, P., Negro, R., Perego, G. B., Rordorf, R., Cipolletta, L., Russo, A. D., Luzi, M., Amellone, C., Ebrille, E., Favro, E., Lucciola, M. T., Devecchi, C., Rametta, F., Devecchi, F., Matta, M., Sant'Andrea, A. O., Santagostino, M., Dell'Era, G., Candida, T. R., Bonfantino, V. M., Gianfrancesco, D., Guido, A., Pellegrino, P. L., Pisano, E. C. L., Rillo, M., Palama, Z., Sai, R., Santobuono, V. E., Favale, S., Scicchitano, P., Nissardi, V., Campisi, G., Sgarito, G., Arena, G., Casorelli, E., Fumagalli, S., Giaccardi, M., Nesti, M., Padeletti, M., Rossi, A., Piacenti, M., Del Greco, M., Catanzariti, D., Manfrin, M., Werner, R., Marini, M., Andreoli, C., Fedeli, F., Mazza, A., Pagnotta, F., Ridarelli, M., Molon, G., and Rossillo, A.
- Subjects
Male ,Cardiac pacing ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Ablation ,Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy ,0302 clinical medicine ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Health care ,Pandemic ,Registries ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Acute management ,Secondary prevention ,Atrial fibrillation ,Arrhythmia ,COVID-19 ,Emergency ,Implantable cardioverter defibrillators ,Pacemakers ,Remote monitoring ,Middle Aged ,Electrophysiology ,Italy ,Emergency Medicine ,Female ,Coronavirus Infections ,Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Atrial fbrillation ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Pneumonia, Viral ,Implantable cardioverter defbrillators ,NO ,03 medical and health sciences ,Physicians ,medicine ,Internal Medicine ,Humans ,Pandemics ,Ablation, Arrhythmia, Atrial fbrillation, Emergency, Implantable cardioverter defbrillators, Pacemakers, Remote monitoring, COVID-19 ,Aged ,business.industry ,Outbreak ,Arrhythmias, Cardiac ,medicine.disease ,Im - Original ,Emergency medicine ,business - Abstract
COVID-19 outbreak had a major impact on the organization of care in Italy, and a survey to evaluate provision of for arrhythmia during COVID-19 outbreak (March–April 2020) was launched. A total of 104 physicians from 84 Italian arrhythmia centres took part in the survey. The vast majority of participating centres (95.2%) reported a significant reduction in the number of elective pacemaker implantations during the outbreak period compared to the corresponding two months of year 2019 (50.0% of centres reported a reduction of > 50%). Similarly, 92.9% of participating centres reported a significant reduction in the number of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantations for primary prevention, and 72.6% a significant reduction of ICD implantations for secondary prevention (> 50% in 65.5 and 44.0% of the centres, respectively). The majority of participating centres (77.4%) reported a significant reduction in the number of elective ablations (> 50% in 65.5% of the centres). Also the interventional procedures performed in an emergency setting, as well as acute management of atrial fibrillation had a marked reduction, thus leading to the conclusion that the impact of COVID-19 was disrupting the entire organization of health care, with a massive impact on the activities and procedures related to arrhythmia management in Italy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11739-020-02487-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Published
- 2020