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Effects of Covid-19 Lockdown on Patients with Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators in South of Italy: possible causes?
  • +12
  • Valentino Ducceschi,
  • Marcello De Vitiis,
  • Valter Bianchi,
  • Raimondo Calvanese,
  • Gregorio Covino,
  • Antonio Rapacciuolo,
  • Vincenzo Russo,
  • Michelangelo Canciello,
  • Mario Volpicelli,
  • Giuseppe Ammirati,
  • Raffaele Sangiuolo,
  • Giovanni Papaccioli,
  • Carmine Ciardiello,
  • Sara Innocenti,
  • Antonio D'Onofrio
Valentino Ducceschi
Ospedale dei Pellegrini

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Marcello De Vitiis
Ospedale dei Pellegrini
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Valter Bianchi
AORN Monaldi, Napoli
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Raimondo Calvanese
Ospedale del Mare
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Gregorio Covino
Ospedale San Giovanni Bosco
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Antonio Rapacciuolo
Federico II University of Naples
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Vincenzo Russo
Second University of Naples - Monaldi Hospital
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Michelangelo Canciello
Ospedale del Mare
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Mario Volpicelli
Ospedale San Giovanni Bosco
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Giuseppe Ammirati
University of Naples Federico II
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Raffaele Sangiuolo
Ospedale Madonna del Buon Consiglio Fatebenefratelli di Napoli
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Giovanni Papaccioli
Second University of Naples - Monaldi Hospital
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Carmine Ciardiello
HT MED
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Sara Innocenti
HT MED
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Antonio D'Onofrio
Ospedale Monaldi
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Abstract

Aims to evaluate the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias during a lockdown period due to COVID-19 pandemics in a population followed by remote monitoring through implanted cardiac defibrillators. Methods and results In this retrospective, multicentre cohort study, we included 574 remotely monitored automatic (AICD) and cardiac resynchronization devices (CRT-D) recipients implanted before January 1st 2019 at seven Hospitals of Campania Region, comparing the incidence of arrhythmias occurred during the lockdown period due to COVID-19 epidemics (from March 9th to May 1st 2020) with the arrhythmias rate of the corresponding period in 2019. An effective retrospective data collection was performed through remote monitoring, as this tool allows the direct transfer of the the information stored by the implantable devices to medical personnel. During the lockdown period, we observed ventricular tachyarrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation) in 25 (4.8%) patients as compared to 12 (2.3%) during the corresponding 2019 period (p < 0.04); new-onset atrial fibrillation was detected in 38 (8.2%) subjects during lockdown period and in 24 (5.2%) during the reference period (p < 0.004). Conclusion During pandemics lockdown period we observed an higher incidence of arrhythmic events in ICD/CRT-D patients followed up through device remote monitoring by seven hospitals of Campania region.