Type of hospitalisations and in-hospital outcomes in the Italian coronary care unit network at the time of COVID-19 pandemic: the BLITZ-COVID19 Registry

Objective The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiology and outcome of patients hospitalised during the COVID-19 pandemic in intensive cardiac care units (ICCs). Design Non-interventional, retrospective and prospective, nationwide study. Setting 109 private or public ICCs in Italy. Participants 6054 consecutive patients admitted to Italian ICCs during COVID-19 pandemic. Primary and secondary outcome measures To obtain accurate and up-to-date information on epidemiology and outcome of patients admitted to ICCs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact that the COVID-19 infection may have determined on the organisational pathways and in-hospital management of the various clinical conditions being admitted to ICCs. Results Acute coronary syndromes were the most frequent ICC discharge diagnoses followed by heart failure and hypokinetic arrhythmias. The prevalence of COVID-19 positivity was approximately 3%. Most patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis at discharge (52%) arrived to ICC from other wards, in particular 22% from non-cardiology ICCs. The overall mortality was 4.2% during ICC and 5.8% during hospital stay. The cause of in-hospital death was cardiac in 74.4% of the cases, non-cardiovascular in 13.5%, vascular in 5.8% and related to COVID-19 in 6.3% of the patients. Conclusions This study provides a unique nationwide picture of current ICC care during COVID-19 pandemic.