St. Joseph’s Health Seeing Reduced Heart Attack Visits Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Syracuse, NY (April 15, 2020) – St. Joseph’s Health is one of eight major hospitals across the United States that have experienced a significant reduction in the frequency of heart attacks coming to the hospitals acutely.

According to a study published by the Journal of American Cardiology, there was a 38% reduction in emergency room procedures for heart attacks during the last week of March alone.

“Either the patients are less active, they’re not stressing themselves, or there’s less pollution in the air and less stress on the body that would create this type of event,” said Dr. Russell Silverman, cardiologist.

The more likely theory for these drastic reductions is a more concerning one.

“The concern is this is not a real finding, and that heart attacks are occurring at the same rate as they have before but we’re just not seeing them at the hospital because patients are not coming to the hospital for fear of contracting COVID-19,” Silverman said. “We’ve heard from patients who present with congestive heart failure that they were afraid to come in with chest pain because of the fear of contracting Covid19.”

If patients choose to stay home instead of going to the hospital, the results could be catastrophic.

“We are going to find that they’ve had heart attacks and there’s nothing we can do at that point,” said Silverman. “They may show up with congestive heart failure, they may show up with rhythm disturbances.”

Given the potential for health problems down the road if heart attack symptoms such as pressure, tightness or pain in the chest or arms are ignored, Dr. Silverman stresses the importance of people to seek care immediately at St. Joseph’s Health Hospital. Many safeguards are in place to ensure that patients do not catch COVID-19 while at the hospital including screenings, testing, and separate negative pressure environments.

“Do not ignore a potentially catastrophic event because you’re concerned about COVID,” he said. “We are the best people to take care of your heart attack and you need to come see us.”