Coronavirus and Heart & Circulatory Diseases Factsheet - Our vision is a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases.
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Coronavirus and Heart & Circulatory Diseases Factsheet January 2021 Our vision is a world free from the fear of heart and circulatory diseases.1
Heart & Circulatory Diseases (Cardiovascular Disease; CVD)
Heart and circulatory diseases is an umbrella term for all diseases of the heart and circulation – from
those that are inherited or that a person is born with, to those that are developed later, such as
coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, stroke and vascular dementia.
• There are around 7.6 million people living with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK - an ageing and growing population
and improved survival rates from heart attacks and strokes, could see these numbers rise still further.
• Normally in the UK there are an average of around 22,000 hospital admissions each week where a heart or circulatory disease
is the main diagnosis, including 2,500 due to stroke and 2,000 due to a heart attack.
Coronavirus (Coronavirus Disease 2019; COVID-19)
COVID-19 is a new illness that can affect your lungs and airways. It's caused by coronavirus.
• The illness can affect anyone, and the experience can vary from asymptomatic (no symptoms) or mild, to critical and fatal.
• Severe illness can cause widespread inflammation and affect the heart, blood pressure and other functions.
• Because the virus is new, there’s a lot we don’t yet know. But thanks to research, we are learning quickly.
For more information please visit the BHF website:
What does coronavirus do to your body?
2Coronavirus and Heart & Circulatory Diseases
Here are some key statistics – for sources and references see pages 7-8.
• Research suggests that people in the UK with underlying health conditions are at increased risk of severe complications from
coronavirus, and an increased risk of death – such as heart disease, stroke and dementia (including vascular), plus their risk
factors (e.g. diabetes, obesity).
Fig 1 - UK coronavirus mortality risk
• Research suggests that people with heart failure are at increased risk of mortality if infected with coronavirus.
3• Evidence suggests that people with hypertension (high blood pressure) may be at greater risk of getting severely ill with
COVID-19 - especially if uncontrolled or untreated - but more research is needed.
• Analyses show that the pandemic has exacerbated health inequalities by age, gender and ethnicity and more research is
required to understand these, including how heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors affect Covid-19 risk and
outcomes.
• A study of severe Covid-19 cases in hospitals across the UK showed that chronic cardiac disease was the most common
comorbidity [other conditions that someone has been diagnosed with, e.g. high blood pressure and diabetes].
• A global study suggests that around half of heart scans from coronavirus patients in hospital show abnormalities, with one
in seven showing severe abnormalities likely to impact on patients’ survival and recovery.
• Around 9 out of 10 deaths that mention coronavirus also record a pre-existing health condition.
• Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common pre-existing conditions for deaths involving coronavirus – others
include dementia, cerebrovascular disease (stroke), hypertensive heart disease, diabetes and heart failure.
• Around 45 per cent of Covid-19 death certificates in England mention cardiovascular (heart and circulatory) disease.
800
• In just one week in April 2020, there were more than 700 excess deaths 700
Number of excess
Other
from heart and circulatory diseases in England, including around 300 from coronary heart 600 circulatory
disease and nearly 200 from stroke. 500 diseases
deaths
400 Stroke
• Since the pandemic started there have been over 5,000 excess deaths from heart 300
and circulatory diseases in England, some of which will also have included Covid-19 diagnoses. 200 Coronary
heart
100
disease
To read the full story, and to find out exactly what excess deaths means please read our blog post. 0
10 Apr
Week ending 4• Visits to accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England for suspected heart attacks dropped by around 50% in
Spring 2020, suggesting that people in urgent need may have decided not to go to hospital.
• BHF-funded research suggests that an estimated 5,000 heart attack sufferers in England may have missed out on life saving
hospital treatment in Spring 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The fall in the number of patients presenting to hospital in England & Wales with heart failure was even more marked than
for heart attacks, dropping by two thirds (66 per cent) by the end of April 2020.
• In Scotland, heart and circulatory A&E attendances in March and April 2020 were almost 60% lower
(compared to the previous year)
Fig 2 - A&E heart and circulatory attendances, Scotland
• Emergency cardiology admissions in Scotland declined by up to 40% during the pandemic.
• Data from Scotland suggest that the proportion of heart attack deaths in the home increased during Spring 2020.
5• The pandemic has significantly reduced capacity for cardiac surgery and treatments, with thousands postponed or
cancelled across the country.
• Official data show that more than 190,000 people were waiting for investigations or treatment in cardiology or
cardiothoracic surgery in England at the end of October 2020 - around 49,000 had been waiting longer than 18 weeks, and
more than 2,500 had been waiting for at least a year – up from 28 at the end of February 2020.
• There has been a dramatic increase in waiting times for diagnostic care in England, with tens of thousands of people
waiting more than six weeks for an echocardiogram – Spring 2020 activity dropped to as low as one third of normal levels.
• BHF-funded research aims to rapidly understand “long Covid” – specifically the deadly link between Covid-19 and many
heart and circulatory diseases, and to protect health against the damaging and potentially long-term effects of Covid-19.
• Results from an UK survey of Covid-19 patients showed around 1 in 5 respondents exhibited symptoms for a period of 5
weeks or longer - 1 in 10 exhibited symptoms for a period of 12 weeks or longer
COVID-19, research and the BHF
Blog by Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director
BHF Coronavirus Hub – support and information
Our coronavirus support pages have been viewed 3.8 million times
bhf.org.uk/donate
Compiled by the British Heart Foundation. Reviewed January 2021.
For any queries, contact us and we will do our best to help -
please mark for the attention of the Health Intelligence team.
6References
STATISTIC REFERENCE
HEART AND CIRCULATORY DISEASES (CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE; CVD) AND CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
7.6m living with heart & circulatory p2 BHF UK estimate based on latest Quality & Outcomes Framework prevalence data;
diseases in UK NHS Digital/Public Health Scotland/StatsWales/DH Northern Ireland and
health surveys with CVD fieldwork: NHS Digital/Scottish Government/Welsh Government
hospital admissions for heart & p2 Latest UK hospital statistics; NHS Digital/Public Health Scotland/NHS Wales/DH Northern Ireland
circulatory diseases, heart attacks and
stroke
Mortality risk in hospitalised COVID-19 p3 The OpenSAFELY Collaborative (2020) Factors associated with COVID-19-related hospital death in the linked electronic health records of
patients; Fig 1 17 million adult NHS patients www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.06.20092999v1
Obesity risk Yang et al (2020) J Med Virol - Obesity aggravates COVID‐19: systematic review meta‐analysis doi.org/10.1002/jmv.26237
(additional references) Hussain et al (2020) Obes Res Clin Pract - Obesity and mortality of COVID19. Meta-analysis
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871403X20305500
Heart failure risk & COVID-19 p3 Rey et al (2020) Eur J Heat Failure - Heart Failure In Covid‐19 Patients: Prevalence, Incidence And Prognostic Implications
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejhf.1990
Hypertension (high blood pressure) risk & p4 Chao Gao et al (2020) Eur Heart J - Association of hypertension and antihypertensive treatment with COVID-19 mortality: a retrospective
COVID-19 observational study academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/41/22/2058/5851436
Kanwal et al (2020) Am Coll Card - COVID-19 and Hypertension: What We Know and Don't Know
www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2020/07/06/08/15/covid-19-and-hypertension
Health inequalities and COVID-19 p4 ISARIC (2020) Ethnicity & Outcomes from COVID-19: ISARIC CCP-UK Prospective Observational Cohort Study of Hospitalised Patients
isaric.tghn.org/articles/ethnicity-and-outcomes-covid-19-isaric-ccp-uk-prospective-observational-cohort-study-hospitalised-patients
Hospital comorbidities – p4 Docherty et al (2020) BMJ - Features of 20 ,133 UK patients in hospital with covid-19 using the ISARIC WHO Clinical Characterisation
most common in COVID-19 patients Protocol: prospective observational cohort study www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1985
Heart scan abnormalities in COVID-19 p4 Dweck et al (2020) EHJ Cardiovascular Imaging - Global evaluation of echocardiography in patients with COVID-19
patients https://academic.oup.com/ehjcimaging/article/doi/10.1093/ehjci/jeaa178/5859292
also Sandoval et al (2020) ACC - Key Points About Myocardial Injury and Cardiac Troponin in COVID-19 www.acc.org/latest-in-
cardiology/articles/2020/07/17/08/00/key-points-about-myocardial-injury-and-cardiac-troponin-in-covid-19
7STATISTIC REFERENCE
HEART AND CIRCULATORY DISEASES (CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE; CVD) AND CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
Pre-existing conditions in p4 Office for National Statistics (2020) Deaths involving COVID-19, England & Wales (Spring 2020 releases)
9 out of 10 COVID-19 deaths; www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths
CHD one of most common National Records of Scotland (2020) Deaths involving COVID-19, Scotland, pre-existing conditions analysis updated monthly around third
week of month (other statistics updated weekly) www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news
CVD (H&CD) mentions on COVID-19 p4 Public Health England (2020) Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19
death certificates, England www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-review-of-disparities-in-risks-and-outcomes
Excess mortality, England (blog) p4 Public Health England (2020) Excess mortality in England: weekly reports
www.gov.uk/government/publications/excess-mortality-in-england-weekly-reports
English hospital A&E visits p5 Public Health England (2020) Emergency department: weekly bulletins for 2020, weekly bulletin for 9 April (week 14)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-department-weekly-bulletins-for-2020
England 5k heart attack patients p5 Mafham et al (2020) Lancet - COVID-19 pandemic and admission rates for and management of acute coronary syndromes in England
MI admissions www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31356-8/fulltext
also Wu et al (2020) EHJ QofC&CO - Patient response, treatments and mortality for acute myocardial infarction during the COVID-19
pandemic https://academic.oup.com/ehjqcco/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ehjqcco/qcaa062/5878960
England & Wales heart failure p5 NICOR (2020) Rapid cardiovascular data: We need it now (and in the future) – based on Heart Failure Audit data
admissions www.nicor.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/NICOR-COVID-2020-Report-FINAL.pdf
Scottish heart & circ A&E; admissions p5 Public Health Scotland (2020) Cardiovascular A&E attendances and admissions scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/
Scottish heart attack deaths/home p5 BHF analysis of 2020 data from NRS (National Records of Scotland); BHF Scotland correspondence
delayed heart procedures; p6 NHS England (2020) Consultant Led Referral-to-Treatment Waiting Times (Incomplete Pathways)
cardio waiting list England www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2020-21/
echo waiting times, England p6 NHS England (2020) Monthly Diagnostics Data 2020-21 www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-
and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-data-2020-21/
Latest data = 47k people waiting more than 6 weeks for an echocardiogram at end of Oct 2020, compared to 3,238 at end of Feb 2020 (x15)
Long COVID research p6 Health Data Research (HDR) UK (2020) press release
www.hdruk.ac.uk/news/research-begins-to-rapidly-understand-deadly-link-between-covid-19-and-cardiovascular-diseases/
Long COVID prevalence p6 Office for National Statistics (2020) The prevalence of long COVID symptoms and COVID-19 complications
www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/theprevalenceoflongcovidsymptomsandcovid19complications
BHF website – 3.8m UPVs p6 Google Studio data for BHF coronavirus info/support pages – UPVs (unique page views) from 1 March to 30 Dec 2020 – 2.6m visits (sessions)
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