It is an “invisible epidemic” that worries cardiologists. During confinement, for fear of being contaminated by the coronavirus, many French people have put aside their health if the symptoms were not too serious, nor in connection with Covid-19, and did not go to the hospital. At the beginning of April, professor Pierre Amarenco was already alerting to the phenomenon at the microphone of Europe 1, saying that the drop in admissions for stroke, AIT (transient ischemic attack, when a clot obstructs the circulation of blood in the brain, editor’s note) or even a heart attack was “around 50 to 70%” in Île-de-France.
Two months later, the consequences of this trend are felt with an increase in cardiovascular diseases, especially in women. While a study has been launched to accurately quantify the number of patients affected, cardiologists are already sounding the alarm.
“I thought that the doctors were overwhelmed”
Among these French women who did not dare take the consultation step, there is Dorothée. “I told myself that the doctors were overwhelmed, that we should not come to say ‘we are hurting here, we are hurting there'” confides this mother of three at the microphone of Europe 1. Between shopping, telecommuting, housework and school at home, this 56-year-old woman took care of everything at home during confinement, except for her. To the point of not paying enough attention to chest pains, nor to the unusual rhythm of his heart.
“Complications that we saw three times a year, not three times a month”
It was ultimately his body that said stop. And we had to “call the Samu, then go to the hospital”. Since then, Dorothée has been followed very closely for her hypertension. And the case of this mother is far from isolated: “These are complications that we saw perhaps three times a year, not three times a month” explains cardiologist Claire Mounier-Vehier. An increase in cases that the specialist at Lille University Hospital attributes to the stress caused by the “lifestyle change” linked to confinement. Not to mention teleworking, which is sometimes made complex by “children who had to be taken care of and who ran everywhere”.
Claire Mounier-Vehier also recalls that stress is “the third risk factor for myocardial infarction in women”. In 8 out of 10 cases, cardiovascular accidents can be avoided, but for that you should not hesitate to call your doctor or to consult.
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