Ahmet Hakan ATEŞ, Hikmet YORGUN, Kudret AYTEMİR, Burak SEZENÖZ

The Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Electrophysiological Procedures: A Single-Center Tertiary Experience

Objective: We aimed to investigate the impact of novel coronavirus pandemic on the number and diversity of electrophysiology procedures in a tertiary referral electrophysiology unit in Turkey. Methods: All consecutive electrophysiology procedures were retrospectively analyzed performed in our electrophysiology department between January 2017 and March 2021. The number of procedures and the distribution of cases per month were calculated preceding and during the pandemic. The diversity of the procedures was also evaluated. We compared the number of electrophysiology procedures between pre-coronavirus disease and post-coronavirus disease period. Results: Overall, the electrophysiology procedures were decreased by 11.1% compared to previous years (P=.017). The most significant difference was observed in April (−89.8%), May (−66.1%), November (−21.7%), December (−29.4%) 2020, and the first month of 2021 (−38.8%). These intervals coincided with the peak coronavirus disease incidence in our country. Atrial fibrillation and supraventricular tachycardia ablation rates significantly dropped by 22.2% (P=.038 and P=.039; respectively) throughout the coronavirus disease outbreak; however, only mild non-significant change occurred in the number of ventricular tachycardia ablations. Conclusion: The coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected the number of electrophysiological studies in our center. It is apparent that this pandemic will be affecting our practice for a while. We need to develop contemporary measures to improve healthcare for non- coronavirus disease patients.

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