COVID-19 e Doença Cardiovascular: Consequências Indiretas e Impacto na População

SARS-CoV-2 infection has turned our lives upside down, with consequences not only in the health systems, but also at a socio-economic or a social level. Health systems had to quickly adapt to a pandemic that challenged the resilience of states and society. We look at the consequences of the first phase of the pandemic in health systems reorganization (with limited access to care and priority shifted to COVID-19) and to the changes in the cardiovascular risk patients behaviour (such as isolation, fear of infection and anxiety). These indirect mechanisms may have contributed to cardiovascular disease under-diagnosis, or to the delay in diagnosis and treatment, and may have contributed to the increase in the registered mortality, even in people without SARS-CoV-2 infection.