COVID-19 fears fuel rise in heart attacks in Nova Scotia – CBC
‘They miss the opportunity to prevent that heart attack by paying attention to the warning signs’
Apr 08, 2021
Fear of COVID-19 has kept people with early symptoms of heart attack and stroke from going to the hospital, which has led to a jump in serious cardiovascular cases across the province, according to new research by Nova Scotia Health.
“We hear from our patients that they are afraid to come to the hospital, they don’t want to come to the hospital for fear of contracting COVID,” said Dr. Ratika Parkash, a cardiologist and director of research for the cardiology division with the health authority.
“So they stay away, then they miss the opportunity to prevent that heart attack by paying attention to the warning signs and get treated for their symptoms early.”
Parkash’s research looks at how many people have been coming to hospital with cardiac and stroke symptoms during the pandemic, and how that compares to the previous three years.
