Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background: Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic had a significant impact on emergent and elective treatment strategies in patients with cardiovascular disease. We aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 on septal reduction therapy (SRT) in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Methods: National Inpatient Sample 2019-2021 was queried to identify patients with HCM and SRT using appropriate ICD codes. Temporal trends for SRT were obtained before and after COVID-19 outset.
Results: There was a significant decline in the number of SRT from 2019 to 2020 (1505 vs. 1180, p<0.001) with partial recovery in 2021 (1250 vs. 1180, p<0.001). Geographic differences existed with differential decrease in number of SM in midwestern and Western Unites States. In addition, the proportion of patients who underwent surgical myectomy (SM) decreased in 2020 (44.6 vs. 48.7%, p=0.008) in favor of alcohol septal ablation (ASA). Patients undergoing SRT in 2020 had higher prevalence of heart failure (39.5 vs. 29%, p=0.002). In-hospital complication rates for cardiogenic shock, bleeding requiring transfusion, acute kidney injury and admission to the critical care unit were higher in 2020 compared to 2019. Hospital length of stay (LOS) was not significantly different however there was an overall increase in LOS in septal myectomy group from 2019 to 2021 (9.1 vs. 10 days, p=0.028). The overall proportion of comorbidities and other in-hospital complications remain unchanged during this study period.
Conclusions: Our data indicates that COVID-19 resulted in a significant decrease in total number of SRTs and a shift from surgical to percutaneous septal reduction therapy. Partial recovery of procedure numbers were noted in the year following the pandemic outset.