TY - JOUR T1 - Impact of COVID-19 on the imaging diagnosis of cardiac disease in Europe JF - Open Heart JO - Open Heart DO - 10.1136/openhrt-2021-001681 VL - 8 IS - 2 SP - e001681 AU - Michelle Claire Williams AU - Leslee Shaw AU - Cole B Hirschfeld AU - Pal Maurovich-Horvat AU - Bjarne L Nørgaard AU - Gianluca Pontone AU - Amelia Jimenez-Heffernan AU - Valentin Sinitsyn AU - Vladimir Sergienko AU - Alexey Ansheles AU - Jeroen J Bax AU - Ronny Buechel AU - Elisa Milan AU - Riemer H J A Slart AU - Edward Nicol AU - Chiara Bucciarelli-Ducci AU - Yaroslav Pynda AU - Nathan Better AU - Rodrigo Cerci AU - Sharmila Dorbala AU - Paolo Raggi AU - Todd C Villines AU - Joao Vitola AU - Eli Malkovskiy AU - Benjamin Goebel AU - Yosef Cohen AU - Michael Randazzo AU - Thomas N B Pascual AU - Maurizio Dondi AU - Diana Paez AU - Andrew J Einstein A2 - , Y1 - 2021/08/01 UR - http://openheart.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001681.abstract N2 - Objectives We aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiac diagnostic testing and practice and to assess its impact in different regions in Europe.Methods The online survey organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency Division of Human Health collected information on changes in cardiac imaging procedural volumes between March 2019 and March/April 2020. Data were collected from 909 centres in 108 countries.Results Centres in Northern and Southern Europe were more likely to cancel all outpatient activities compared with Western and Eastern Europe. There was a greater reduction in total procedure volumes in Europe compared with the rest of the world in March 2020 (45% vs 41%, p=0.003), with a more marked reduction in Southern Europe (58%), but by April 2020 this was similar in Europe and the rest of the world (69% vs 63%, p=0.261). Regional variations were apparent between imaging modalities, but the largest reductions were in Southern Europe for nearly all modalities. In March 2020, location in Southern Europe was the only independent predictor of the reduction in procedure volume. However, in April 2020, lower gross domestic product and higher COVID-19 deaths were the only independent predictors.Conclusion The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on care of patients with cardiac disease, with substantial regional variations in Europe. This has potential long-term implications for patients and plans are required to enable the diagnosis of non-COVID-19 conditions during the ongoing pandemic.No data are available. As data were provided in confidence to the IAEA by survey respondents, sharing of the underlying data is not possible. ER -