Heart, prescriptions peak during lockdown: minus 60%

The weight of the coronavirus is also felt on cardiovascular health, even indirectly. An Italian study highlights that in the first lockdown the prescriptions of oral anticoagulants, drugs used for example to prevent stroke, fell by 60%. The research, conducted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Iss), together with the Italian Medicines Agency and other Italian hospitals, focused on the months from March to July 2020 and revealed, in that period, a decline in diagnoses and access to the hospital to receive these therapies.