Peripheral Artery Disease Causes More Harm to Patients than COVID-19

Background: To optimize our strategic planning, we aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) at our tertiary care hospital.

Method: We performed a prospective single-center cohort study at a large tertiary care hospital. In total, 1,210 patients have been included: 611 patients admitted between March and December 2020, compared with retrospective data from 599 patients from the same period in 2019.

Results: Emergency admissions involving patients with advanced stage PAD increased significantly during the pandemic period of 2020 (n = 79; 13%) compared with the same period in 2019 (n = 50; 8%; p < 0.0098). This increase was accompanied by increased limb amputations performed during first lockdown (n = 14; 15%), post-lockdown (n = 26; 6%), and second lockdown 2020 (n = 3; 6%) compared with respective time periods in 2019 (n = 3; 2%; p < 0.0003, n = 5; 1%; p < 0.0004, and n = 2; 4%; p = 1).

The 30-day mortality rate of patients with PAD increased to 3% during the COVID-19 pandemic period of 2020 compared with 2% in the same period in 2019. No SARS-CoV-2 infection was observed among patients with PAD during the observation period.

Conclusion: Delayed treatment for PAD due to changes in clinical practice protocols caused more harm to PAD patients than SARS-CoV-2 infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strict lockdown protocols adversely affected the care of PAD patients, with persisting aftereffects, including increased emergency admission with unsuccessful revascularization attempts leading to limb amputation even after the peak of the pandemic had passed. We believe that creating standards to simplify patient access to health care facilities, and providing continuous care to PAD patients, even in times of global pandemics, will prevent the unfavorable outcomes observed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).

Publication History

Article published online:
28 January 2023