Don’t miss a beat with preventive heart care

Apr 16, 2021 | Jennifer O'Hara | @jenohara

For many people, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity to reassess priorities in their lives, spend more time with loved ones, and take care of some projects or personal issues that they’ve been avoiding. But some people may have been avoiding their heart health.

Dr. Christopher DeSimone, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says he's concerned some patients may have been ignoring symptoms, waiting six or nine months, or even a year, before going to in for a medical exam.

"What's really heartbreaking is there are things we could have offered patients — medicines and interventions — things that we could have caught in an earlier time frame," says Dr. DeSimone. "We could have really impacted their quality of life and lessened their risk from dying of heart disease."

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. DeSimone talks more about the concerns of delayed heart health care and describes heart disease symptoms. And he emphasizes how safe it is to go to the hospital for a heart check during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To practice safe social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, this interview was conducted using video conferencing. The sound and video quality are representative of the technology used. For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

Read the full transcript.

Connect with others talking about the pandemic and supporting one another in the COVID-19 support group and the Heart & Blood Health support group.

Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting. Due to the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific understanding, along with guidelines and recommendations, may have changed since the original publication date.

For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.