Study: Covid-19 guidance may have reduced the risk of heart attack

A new study claimed that adherence to Covid-19 guidance may have reduced the risk of a heart attack. Researchers carried out the study by analysing anonymised data collected from people's mobile phones in Sweden to develop an aggregate picture of the activities undertaken by them amidst the pandemic. They also mapped it against attendances at the country's 29 emergency cardiac angiography units.

Their study revealed that the proportion of patients going to the hospital for emergency heart treatment dropped from an average of 63 patients a day in pre-Covid years to an average of 55 patients a day during the first wave of the pandemic - from 1 March to 5 May. At its lowest point, in the early part of April, the drop in patients was 38 per cent. Chris Gale, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Leeds, one of the scientists involved in the study, said: "This was a statistical analysis so cause-and-effect cannot be directly determined, but it has identified a number of interesting associations."

He added: "Although Sweden was not locked down, people aged 70 or more were urged to stay at home and that could have reduced exposure to some of the events that are known to trigger a heart attack such as stress, intense physical activity, air pollution and exposure to some viruses."

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