Limited national data exists about the prevalence & distribution of underlying conditions among COVID-19 deaths between sexes & across age groups.
We studied all adult (≥18 years) deaths recorded in England & Wales between 1st March 2020 & 12th May 2020.
We compared the prevalence of underlying health conditions between #COVID19 and non-COVID19 related deaths during the pandemic.
We also compared the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of #COVID19 with other primary causes of death, stratified by sex & age group.
Of the 144,279 adult deaths recorded during the study period, 36,438 (25.3%) were confirmed #COVID19 cases.
Women represented 43.2% (n=15,731) of the #COVID19 deaths compared with 51.9% (n=55,980) in non-COVID19 deaths.
Overall, COVID deaths were younger than non-COVID deaths (82 vs. 83 years).
The ASMR of #COVID19 was higher than all other common primary causes of death, across age groups & sexes, except for cancers in women between the ages of 30-79 years.
A linear relationship was observed between ASMR & age amongst #COVID19 deaths, with persistently higher rates in men than women across all age groups.
The most prevalent reported conditions were #hypertension, #dementia, chronic lung disease & #diabetes, and these were higher amongst COVID19 deaths.
Pre-existing ischemic heart disease was similar among #COVID19 (11.4%) and non-COVID19 (12%) deaths.
Emerging data from @PHE_uk suggests a synergistic detrimental effect of co-infection with #SARS_CoV_2 & #flu viruses. The preprint (not peer reviewed) article is available here medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
‘The risk of testing positive for #SARS_CoV_2 was 68% lower among #influenza positive cases, suggesting possible pathogenic competition between the two viruses.’
However, ‘Patients with a coinfection had a risk of death of 5.92 (95% CI, 3.21-10.91) times greater than among those with neither influenza nor SARS-CoV-2 suggesting possible synergistic effects in coinfected individuals.’
Advances in #cancer treatment have improved clinical outcomes, leading to an increasing population of cancer survivors. Yet, this success is associated with high rates of short‐ & long‐term #cardiovascular toxicities. The Cancer Patient and Cardiology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.100…
The number & variety of #cancer drugs & #cardiovascular toxicity types make long‐term care a complex undertaking.
This requires a multidisciplinary approach including expertise from #oncology, #cardiology, & other related specialties, & has led to the development of the cardio‐oncology subspecialty.
The rise in admissions with #COVID19 does not mean that you shouldn’t attend hospital if you have a medical emergency #heartattack
During the first peak, admissions with #heartatrack declined & was of grave concern : COVID-19 pandemic and admission rates for and management of acute coronary syndromes in England @TheLancetthelancet.com/journals/lance…
Yet, hospitals provided high quality care for those who did attend: Patient response, treatments and mortality for acute myocardial infarction during the COVID-19 pandemic @ESC_Journals#EHJQCCOacademic.oup.com/ehjqcco/advanc…
@TheLancet journals now require all #research papers, irrespective of method, to include a data-sharing statement that details what #data will be shared, whether additional documents will be shared, when data will become available & by what access criteria data will be shared.
All @TheLancet journals will now introduce additional peer-review requirements for papers based on large, real-world datasets.
Patients with mitral annular disjunction present with frequent premature ventricular contractions; in this study, one-third had ventricular arrhythmias & one-tenth had severe arrhythmic events. @JACCJournalsonlinejacc.org/content/72/14/…
A total of 82 (71%) patients reported #palpitations, 47 (41%) patients reported previous pre-syncope, 40 (34%) had ventricular arrhythmia, 15 (13%) had experienced #syncope, & 14 (12%) patients had experienced a severe arrhythmic event prior to inclusion
Mitral valve prolapse was present in 90 (78%) patients