Heart attacks fell dramatically during the pandemic — and they're still dropping

The COVID-19 pandemic heralded a 35% drop in hospital admissions for heart attacks in the U.S. — but even now, that rate is continuing to fall. Why?

New research suggests that, although people avoiding medical care during the pandemic contributed to the decline in the short term, better heart-attack prevention is the bigger reason for this downward trend.

A heart attack, or acute myocardial infarction (AMI), happens when there's a blockage of blood flow to the heart that causes some of the heart's muscle tissue to die. The symptoms — including chest pain, arm or shoulder pain, shortness of breath, tiredness and nausea — are fairly well known, and most people are aware that heart attacks need immediate medical care in a hospital setting.

However, the pandemic came with an unusual dip in AMI hospitalizations.

Related: Young women may be likelier to die after heart attacks than men

Since 2020, researchers have debated the reasons for this drop. For instance, did patients who were experiencing heart-attack symptoms avoid medical care? Or did patients who might have otherwise had a heart attack die of COVID-19 first?

To investigate these questions, researchers analyzed 7.5 years of Medicare claims data collected between January 2016 and June 2023. They looked at the rates of AMI-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations and the characteristics of the affected patients.