During the corona pandemic, several thousand additional people died from heart complaints. About half of them probably should have had an angioplasty earlier, but that was not possible because regular care was virtually at a standstill at that time.
This is what health economist Eline van den Broek-Altenburg notes. The health economist studied the medical information about almost 113,000 people who ended up in a Dutch hospital with heart complaints between 2018 and 2021. Some required intervention within a few days. Others had to wait longer for help.
More people died in both groups in the corona years 2020 and 2021 than in the years before the outbreak, 2018 and 2019.
Significant excess mortality
The postponement of angioplasty has mainly led to deaths among people who should have been helped within a few days of diagnosis. There is also a significant excess mortality among people who could wait longer for angioplasty. At that time, doctors mainly limited themselves to people who were possibly in mortal danger and needed immediate help.
The postponement of the treatments also had another consequence. People who underwent angioplasty with delay often developed complaints again later and still had to be helped quickly. As a result, there were quite a few acute interventions in 2021.
Due to excess mortality, the number of people dying from heart problems is increasing, after years of decline. “Total cardiac mortality decreased, but the pandemic has reversed that decrease,” said Van den Broek-Altenburg.
Long-term damage from the corona pandemic
Van den Broek-Altenburg will present her conclusions on Tuesday at a conference of the organization ZonMw, which finances innovation and research in healthcare. The organization has subsidized the research of Van den Broek-Altenburg and others after a motion was passed in the House of Representatives.
Van den Broek-Altenburg hopes that her research can continue. For example, she wants to know what the long-term damage is from the corona pandemic. She also wants to know whether the number of people dying from heart problems is declining again now that the pandemic is over.