Cardiac Surgery during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the first wave

BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic has affected human behaviour and burdened health systems and has thus had an impact on other health outcomes. ObjectiveThis paper studies whether there was a decrease in cardiac surgery operations in Greece during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Data and MethodsWe used data from 7 major hospitals that geographically cover about half the country and more than half the population, including a mix of public, private, military and childrens hospitals. We used a difference-in-differences econometric approach to compare trends in cardiac surgery before and after the pandemic in 2020, to the same months in 2019, controlling for seasonality and unemployment, and using hospital fixed effects. ResultsWe found that during the first wave of the pandemic and the associated lockdown, there were 35-56% fewer cardiac surgery operations compared to what we would have expected in the absence of the pandemic. ConclusionsThere was a steep decline in Cardiac surgery operations in Greece during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Possible reasons may include people not seeking medical attention to avoid the risk of catching Covid-19; fewer referrals; and working from home, thus not being exposed to a stressful work environment or commute.