Exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiac surgical services: A scoping review

The Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that produces respiratory symptoms and has serious consequences for people's cardiovascular systems (CVS). It is a severe issue and a major task not only for health care experts but also for governments to contain this pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh member of the human coronavirus family to be implicated in this zoonotic outbreak. COVID-19's CV interactions are comparable to those of SARS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV), and influenza. Those who have COVID-19 and underlying cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are at a higher risk of serious illness and mortality, and disease has been linked to several direct and indirect CV consequences. COVID-19 causes CVDs such as arrhythmias, cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, myocarditis, stress-cardiomyopathy, and acute myocardial damage (AMD) as a consequence of acute coronary syndrome. The provision of CV care may expose health care professionals to risk as they become hosts or vectors of viral transmission. It binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme receptor, causing constitutional and pulmonary signs in the beginning, and then as the infection advances, it affects other organs such as the gastrointestinal tract, CVS, neurological system, and so on. COVID-19 mortality is increased by underlying CVDs comorbidities.

The Impact of COVID-19 Surges in 2019–2021 on Patient-Reported Outcome Measures After Spine Surgery at an Academic Tertiary Referral Center in Taiwan: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study

Aim

Limited data are available on the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in patients who underwent spine surgery. In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations between the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan (May 2021) and PROMs in patients who underwent spine surgery.

Method

We retrospectively identified patients who underwent spine surgery during identical defined 6-week time-intervals (May 16 to June 30) in 2019, 2020, and 2021. PROMs, including visual analog scale (VAS) score for pain, Oswestry disability index (ODI), and EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D), were investigated before surgical intervention and at a 1-month follow-up. Relevant clinical information was collected from the electronic medical records of patients. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the association between the pandemic in 2021 (vs. 2019/2020) and the PROMs after adjusting for age, sex, and relevant clinical variables.

Results

The number of patients who underwent spine surgery at our hospital during the identical defined 6-week time-intervals in 2019, 2020, and 2021 was 77, 70, and 48, respectively. The surgical intervention significantly improved VAS, ODI, and EQ-5D of the patients (1 month after surgery vs. before surgery, all p < 0.001) in all three study periods. However, there was a significant between-group difference in change from baseline in VAS (p = 0.002) and EQ-5D (p = 0.010). The decrease in VAS and increase in EQ-5D after surgery in 2021 were not as much as those in 2019 and 2020. The associations between the pandemic in 2021 (vs. 2019/2020) and changes in VAS (β coefficient 1.239; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.355 to 2.124; p = 0.006) and EQ-5D (β coefficient, −0.095; 95% CI, −0.155 to −0.035; p = 0.002) after spine surgery were independent of relevant clinical factors.

Conclusion

There was less improvement in short-term PROMs (VAS and EQ-5D) after spine surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Assessment of PROMs in surgical patients during a pandemic may be clinically relevant, and psychological support in this condition might help improve patients' outcomes.

Acute infective endocarditis during COVID-19 pandemic time: The dark side of the moon

The COVID‐19 pandemic has remarkably impacted the hospital management and the profile of patients suffering from acute cardiovascular syndromes. Among them, acute infective endocarditis (AIE) represented a rather frequent part of these urgent/emergent procedures. The paper by Liu et al. has clearly shown the higher risk features which patients with a diagnosis of AIE presented at hospital admission during the first part (first and second waves) of the outbreak, often requiring challenging operations, but fortunately not associated with the worse outcome if compared to results obtained before the SARS‐2 pandemic. The report discussed herein presents several other aspects worth discussion and comments, particularly in relation to hospital management and postdischarge outcome which certainly deserve to be highlighted, but also further investigations.