The COVID-19 pandemic had significant impact on health care worldwide which has led to a reduction in all elective admissions and management of patients through virtual care. The purpose of this study is to assess changes in STEMI volumes, door to reperfusion, and the time from the onset of symptoms until reperfusion therapy, and in-hospital events between the pre-COVID-19 (PC) and after COVID-19 (AC) period. All acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) cases were retrospectively identified from 16 centers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 period from January 01 to April 30, 2020. These cases were compared to a pre-COVID period from January 01 to April 30, 2018 and 2019. One thousand seven hundred and eighty-five patients with a mean age 56.3 (SD ± 12.4) years, 88.3% were male. During COVID-19 Pandemic the total STEMI volumes was reduced (28%, n = 500), STEMI volumes for those treated with reperfusion therapy was reduced too (27.6%, n = 450). Door to balloon time < 90 minutes was achieved in (73.1%, no = 307) during 2020. Timing from the onset of symptoms to the balloon of more than 12 hours was higher during 2020 comparing to pre-COVID 19 years (17.2% vs <3%, respectively). There were no differences between the AC and PC period with respect to in-hospital events and the length of hospital stay. There was a reduction in the STEMI volumes during 2020. Our data reflected the standard of care for STEMI patients continued during the COVID-19 pandemic while demonstrating patients delayed presenting to the hospital.

HG on admission is independently associated with hospital and short-term mortality in AHF patients. Future research should focus on examining the impact of tight glycemic control on outcomes of AHF patients.

PurposeSyncope is a common condition affecting almost one-third of the general population. The present study measures the prevalence of psychiatric traits in patients presenting with syncope (unexplained and vasovagal) and whether recurrent attacks have an impact on psychiatric profiles.Patients and methodsThis is a case–control study in a tertiary hospital enrolling all patients aged ≥12 years with single or recurrent syncopal attacks. A self-reporting psychometric questionnaire (The Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised) was used to screen for depression, anxiety, somatization disorder, and phobia. Crude comparisons of average scores were done. Further, multiple logistic regression analyses were carried out to measure the impact of syncope on each psychiatric domain. The control group were matched for age, gender, and chronic illnesses with a ratio of 1:3.ResultsThere were 43 cases and 129 control subjects, with predominance of females (67.4%) and an average age of 33.8 years (standard deviation = 16). There were no significant differences in average scores of depression (13 vs 14.53, P = 0.31), anxiety (11.3 vs 10.4, P = 0.51), or phobia (5.4 vs 5.2, P = 0.88). However, the syncope group had a higher average score for somatization disorder (18.53 vs 13.66, P = 0.002). Binary logistic regression model showed that the association between syncope and somatization disorder was independent of competing confounders (odds ratio = 3.75, 95% confidence interval: 1.72, 8.15, P = 0.001). A sub-analysis of the case group showed that patients with multiple syncopal attacks (six or more) had higher average scores of depression, anxiety, phobia, and somatization disorder compared to those who had less than six attacks.ConclusionSyncope was independently associated with somatization disorder traits. Further, recurrent syncope resulted in greater deterioration of patients’ psychiatric profiles. Thus, taking into account the psychiatric status in the management of such patients is crucial.

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