Heart attack patients are taking 18 hours longer on average to attend hospital due to Covid-19 fears, a leading cardiologist has said.
Dr Samer Arnous, Consultant Cardiologist at University Hospital Limerick warns that patients are at risk of serious complications or even death if they delay treatment.
Dr Arnous said: "We also know that 25% of patients with serious valve disease will die within three to six months if untreated. Due to Covid-19 we are already three months delayed in treating patients, but working extremely hard to make up for lost time."
Medics are asking patients not to ignore heart symptoms and seek help immediately.
Heart and stroke charity Croí is spearheading a national campaign to urge those who have symptoms of heart or stroke emergency to #Justgo and get medical help without delay.
The number of cardiac patients presenting to hospitals for treatment plunged during the Covid-19 lockdown (by between 50% and 80%), resulting in an estimated 9,000 cardiac procedures not going ahead when compared to the pre-Covid norm.
Urgent cardiac care procedures include the fitting of pacemakers or stents, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantations (TAVI) or angiograms.
These procedures would normally not be delayed due to the to highly increased risk of permanent, life debilitating damage or death.
Dr Arnous said: "Some hospitals may differ in either direction, but when you average it out, 9,000+ cases gives us a very good indication of the number of patients who urgently needed treatment and would have received life changing, if not lifesaving cardiac care had Covid-19 not arisen."
Professor William McEvoy, Professor of Preventive Cardiology at NUI Galway and Medical and Research Director, National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health concurs: “Research conducted by colleagues in University Hospital Galway found a reduction of approximately one third in emergency Percutaneous Coronary Interventions such as stent insertions across all hospitals in Ireland during the lockdown.
"This number does not include elective cardiac procedures, many of which are clinically urgent."
Neil Johnson, CEO of Croí said: “Fear of Covid-19 is keeping patients away from hospitals, despite the risk of cardiac death being ten times higher than death from Covid-19.
He added: “The longer you wait with either a heart attack or stroke, the greater the damage to your heart or brain respectively.
"As the country opens up again, it’s imperative that patients no longer fear Covid-19 risks and realise the much greater risk in delaying with a heart complaint.
"It’s important to remember that cardiac death is largely preventable."
Professor William McEvoy added: “We have seen patients presenting with late complications of heart attacks during lockdown: patients suffered the type of severe damage we wouldn’t have seen in up to 40 years since the advent of modern cardiac medicine in the eighties."
