研究发现，心脏病患者可能死于对冠状病毒的恐惧

研究发现，心脏病患者可能死于对冠状病毒的恐惧

Doctors may have been right to be concerned that people with heart problems were avoiding the ER due to Covid-19, according to a new study published Friday.

周五发表的一项新研究显示，医生们担心有心脏病的人会因为Covid-19而避免急诊，这种担心可能是正确的。

It provides evidence that people have stayed away from the emergency room even with acute heart attack symptoms. And some may have died as a result.

它提供的证据表明，即使有急性心脏病发作的症状，人们也会远离急诊室。有些人可能因此而死亡。

Researchers from the Providence Heart Institute system based in the US northwest looked at the records of more than 15,000 heart attack patients from between December 30 and May 16 of this year.

位于美国西北部的普罗维登斯心脏研究所系统的研究人员查看了今年12月30日至5月16日期间超过1.5万名心脏病患者的记录。

They found "important changes" in heart attack hospitalization rates. Patients also fared worse during the early and later parts of the pandemic, they reported Friday in the medical journal JAMA Cardiology.

他们发现了心脏病住院率的“重要变化”。他们在周五的医学期刊《JAMA Cardiology》上报告说，在流行病的早期和后期，患者的情况也更糟。

And patients with the most serious type of heart attack appeared to be more than twice as likely to die at one point.

而最严重的心脏病发作患者在某一时刻死亡的可能性要高出两倍以上。

There was a substantial decrease in hospitalizations early in the pandemic, with the case rates starting to fall on February 23.

在流行病初期，住院人数大幅减少，2月23日病例数开始下降。

Patients hospitalized for a heart attack during the pandemic tended to be younger by about 1 to 3 years than patients before the pandemic. The authors think older patients may have had a "greater reluctance" to get medical help if they had symptoms. Typically, older people have gotten sicker from Covid-19.

在流行病期间因心脏病发作而住院的患者往往比流行病前的患者年轻约1至3岁。作者认为，老年患者如果有症状，可能“更不愿意”接受医疗帮助。通常情况下，老年人会因Covid-19病情加重。

Patients who were hospitalized for a heart attack during the pandemic spent less time at the hospital than before the pandemic. This may be because hospitals wanted to keep beds open in case they were needed for Covid-19 patients, the researchers said. The patients were all seen at hospitals within the Providence St. Joseph Health System in Alaska, California, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

在流行病期间因心脏病发作而住院的患者在医院的时间比大流行前要少。研究人员说，这可能是因为医院希望保持床位开放，以备Covid-19患者需要时使用。这些病人都在普罗维登斯圣约瑟夫卫生系统的医院接受治疗，该系统位于阿拉斯加、加利福尼亚、蒙大拿、俄勒冈、德克萨斯和华盛顿。

Patients were also more likely to be sent home from the hospital rather than sent to a rehabilitation center.

病人也更有可能从医院被送回家，而不是去康复中心。

Around March 29, the number of people hospitalized for a heart attack did increase, but it was at a slower rate than before the pandemic. It took five full weeks to go back to the levels hospitals were seeing pre-pandemic. The researchers think the shift may have been after doctors started encouraging patients with symptoms to follow through and get care.

在3月29日左右，因心脏病发作而住院的人数确实有所增加，但速度比大流行前要慢。医院花了整整五周时间才恢复到大流行前的水平。研究人员认为，这种转变可能是在医生开始鼓励有症状的病人坚持治疗之后发生的。

The researchers couldn't find evidence that doctors were treating patients any differently than they would when there wasn't a pandemic. Yet there was a real difference in how well some patients did.

研究人员找不到证据表明，医生对待病人的方式与没有流行病时有任何不同。然而，在一些病人的治疗效果上却有真正的不同。

There was a substantial increase in deaths among patients who suffered a more serious type of heart attack called STEMI. That's when one of the arteries is blocked and blood and oxygen can't get to the heart.

在患有一种称为心肌梗死的更严重的心脏病发作的患者中，死亡人数大幅增加。当其中一条动脉被堵塞，血液和氧气无法到达心脏。

The rate of people who died from these serious heart attacks was even greater during the later part of the pandemic, the study found.

研究发现，在流行病的后期，死于这些严重心脏病发作的人的比率甚至更高。

Time matters with a serious heart attack. A delay in care due to a patient's reluctance to seek help or because emergency medical services were behind or the emergency department was full could hurt the chances of survival.

对于严重的心脏病来说，时间很重要。由于病人不愿寻求帮助、紧急医疗服务滞后或急诊科人满为患而延误治疗，可能会降低生存的机会。