Silent Rise in At Home Cardiac Deaths Since COVID19 Pandemic Sparks New Concerns
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jun 01, 2025 2 weeks, 3 days, 16 hours, 21 minutes ago
Thailand Medical News: Heart Deaths on The Rise Despite Lower Hospital Admissions
Heart disease has long held the title of the world’s leading cause of death, but new research out of Massachusetts paints a disturbing picture—while hospital records may suggest fewer heart attacks in recent years, actual deaths from heart-related issues have gone up, particularly among people dying at home.
Silent Rise in At Home Cardiac Deaths Since COVID19 Pandemic Sparks New Concerns
A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, the Mongan Institute, and Harvard Medical School, all part of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, conducted a comprehensive analysis of over 127,000 death certificates across Massachusetts from 2014 to mid-2024. This
Thailand Medical News report reveals that after comparing data from the pre-pandemic years (2014–2019) to the period spanning 2020–2023, cardiac deaths have exceeded expected numbers every single year since the pandemic began.
People Are Dying at Home Instead of Seeking Hospital Care
In 2020, cardiac deaths were 16% higher than expected. That number rose to 17% in 2021 and 2022, and even in 2023, long after pandemic restrictions were lifted, cardiac deaths remained 6% above projected levels. Researchers found a stark shift in where these deaths occurred. More people were dying at home rather than in medical facilities, even though hospital admissions for heart attacks had declined.
Dr. Jason H. Wasfy, the study’s corresponding author and director of Outcomes Research at the Cardiology Division of Massachusetts General Hospital, emphasized the hidden crisis: “Lots of reports have shown that there have been fewer heart attacks in hospitals since 2020—but something seems to be missing from that data. We now show that if you account for deaths at home, cardiac deaths are going up and have stayed up for years.”
What the Numbers Really Reveal
Using negative binomial regression models, the team compared actual versus expected monthly cardiac death rates while standardizing for age and sex. The increase was not evenly distributed—it was especially pronounced for deaths that occurred at home between 2020 and 2022. Even in hospital settings, cardiac mortality exceeded expectations throughout the 2020 to 2023 period.
The average age of those who died was 77, with nearly 48% being women. The population-based approach revealed a seasonal pattern as well—cardiac deaths peaked during colder months but remained consistently higher than pre-pandemic baselines year-round.
Pandemic Shocks Still Ripple Through the Health System
Dr. John Hsu, senior author and director of the Program for Clinical Economics and Policy Analysis at the Mongan Institute, noted that both patient behavior and health outcomes have changed since 2020. “Healthcare systems around the world have experienced multiple shocks since 2020. Our findings suggest that both patient
choices about seeking care and outcomes after experiencing a cardiac emergency also have changed.”
The implications are troubling. Even though hospital data may suggest fewer heart attacks, those numbers don’t reflect the full reality. Many people may be avoiding hospitals due to fear of infection, financial stress, or other barriers to care, and are dying as a result.
Why This Matters and What Comes Next
Other countries like the United Kingdom have also reported spikes in at-home cardiac deaths since the start of the pandemic. The United States appears to be experiencing a prolonged impact, with elevated cardiac death rates persisting into mid-2024.
While the study acknowledges limitations—including the possibility of misclassified causes of death—it strongly supports the reliability of death certificate data, particularly given improvements in coding and data collection by health authorities like the CDC.
Conclusions and Call to Action
The findings from this study underscore a dangerous shift in the way cardiac emergencies are managed—or overlooked—since the onset of COVID-19. People with underlying heart conditions may be falling through the cracks of the healthcare system, either due to disruptions in outpatient care, reluctance to seek emergency help, or structural shortcomings in how cardiac services are delivered during public health crises.
This ongoing trend of increased at-home cardiac mortality is a wake-up call for health systems worldwide. It highlights the urgent need to strengthen community-based cardiac care, restore public confidence in emergency health services, and ensure that care is accessible and effective during any future pandemics or health emergencies. Crucially, we must not rely solely on hospital admission data to monitor heart health trends, as it no longer reflects the full scope of where and how people are dying from cardiovascular diseases.
The study findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal: JAMA Network Open.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2834659
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