E-Mail Lower rates of hospital attendance for urgent heart problems during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to avoidable deaths in England, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a marked decline* in patient visits to Emergency Departments (EDs) was observed in England and the US, including for people with heart problems. In this study, published online in the journal Circulation cardiovascular quality and outcomes, researchers at UCL's Institute of Health Informatics estimated the effect of reduced ED visits for suspected cardiac disease on non-COVID-19 related cardiac mortality in England.