Recommendations for the care of patients with cardiovascular disease in health emergency situations: a call to action

Abstract

COVID-19 has had a negative impact on the health care of patients with cardiovascular disease and patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease. The restrictions affecting access to the health care system have conditioned the care received, resulting in poorer control and a higher risk of events. Taking action to improve the care provided during health emergencies is mandatory. It is important to promote the development of telemedicine and patient empowerment by fostering health literacy and a higher degree of self-care. In addition, primary care and coordination between health care levels should be improved. Moreover, the simplification and optimization of treatment, for example, using the cardiovascular polypill, have led to an improvement in adherence, better control of vascular risk factors, and a reduced risk of events. The present document provides specific recommendations for improving the care provided to patients under a health emergency.

Keywords:

• Vascular
• COVID-19
• pandemic
• polypill
• telemedicine

Transparency

Declaration of financial/other relationships

Carmen Suárez Fernández, Pedro Armario, Maria Dolores López Carmona, and José Pablo Miramontes González declare that they have no conflicts of interest with respect to this article. Jose María Cepeda has received fees for consulting and/or lectures from Bayer, Daiichi-Sankyo and BMS-Pfizer. Ismael Said-Criado has received fees for teaching activities from GSK, Ferrer, Sanofi, Boehringer, and Novartis. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

All authors have contributed to the conception, design, and acquisition of data and to the analysis and interpretation of data. All authors have participated in in drafting, reviewing, and/or revising the manuscript and have approved its submission.

Acknowledgements

Editorial assistance was provided by Content Ed Net with funding from Ferrer.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Ferrer.