Even in Corona times: If you have heart problems, dial an emergency call!

Christine Albert studied German linguistics and literature as well as Scandinavian studies at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg. She is currently doing a traineeship at Hubert Burda Media and is writing, among other things, for

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

If a heart emergency is suspected, no one should hesitate to dial 112, emphasize cardiologists when presenting the heart report. The supply was also secured during the second corona wave.

Heart specialists fear that patients will again stay away from the clinics for fear of a corona infection. "The risk of being infected in the hospital is many times lower than the risk of not being treated," said cardiologist Thomas Voigtländer of the German press agency dpa. The medical director of the Agaplesion Bethanien Hospital in Frankfurt is the deputy chairman of the board of the German Heart Foundation.

During the first corona wave, according to evaluations by a health insurance company, over 40 percent fewer patients came to the hospital for urgent cardiovascular problems than in the same period of the previous year. The number of inpatient heart attack patients has fallen by around 30 percent. "We fear that it will happen again now. It won't be as strong as in spring, but the trend is there."

Don't lose sight of other diseases

"Despite the pandemic, the clinics are equipped for emergency care," said Voigtländer. One has "learned" since the spring: there are rapid tests and enough protective equipment, infected people are isolated, the concepts are more differentiated. Voigtländer also does not expect that operations that can be planned across the board will have to be postponed again. "In March and April we created almost too many resources for corona patients and cut the rest too far," said Voigtländer.

Despite the pandemic, you shouldn't lose sight of other diseases, said the cardiologist. In Germany, 345,000 people die every year from cardiovascular diseases. Almost 12,000 have died from or with the corona virus so far. Without corona measures, however, according to experts, this number would be many times higher.

Heart patients are particularly at risk in the event of a corona infection. "The decisive risk factor is age," said Voigtländer. Heart patients should not take an increase in breathing difficulties lightly as normal: "The symptoms of Covid-19 can be very similar to the symptoms of heart disease."

No postponable illnesses

As can be seen from the German Heart Report, which was presented online in Frankfurt on Thursday, around 46,000 people nationwide died of heart attacks in 2019. About 30 percent of heart attack patients did not die in a clinic - also because they alerted the emergency doctor too late or not at all. Heart attacks and other heart emergencies are "not postponable illnesses, but are of course still subject to emergency care, which is also guaranteed during this second corona wave," emphasized Voigtländer. (approx / dpa)

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