No Evidence for Reduced Hospital Admissions or Increased Deaths from Stroke or Heart Attack During COVID-19

Articles in the UK press have claimed that hospital admissions for heart attack and stroke have declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, data from the West Midlands Ambulance Service have not shown any reduction in call-outs for patients with stroke or ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction. This study examined data from University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, comparing admissions from week 1 of 2016 to week 17 of 2019, with the same period in 2020, pre- and post-lockdown. The results showed that there was no evidence of a reduction in the overall mean number of admissions of patients with these conditions in the post-lockdown period.