Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Implantation of Intra-Cardiac Devices in Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Patients in the Western of Romania.

: COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted public health services worldwide, determining a significant decrease of elective cardiovascular (CV) procedures, especially in patients with associated chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus (DM). : This study was first started in 2019 in the western of Romania, to analyze the differences regarding the implantations of intra-cardiac devices such as permanent pacemakers (PPM), cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) in 351 patients with and without DM and the situation was reanalyzed at the end of 2020. : of the first 351 patients with and without DM. 28.20% of these patients had type 2 DM ( = 0.022), exceeding more than twice the prevalence of DM in the general population (11%). Patients with DM were younger ( = 0.022) and required twice as often CRT ( = 0.002) as non-diabetic patients. The state of these procedures was reanalyzed at the end of 2020, a dramatic decrease of all new device implantations being observed, both in non-diabetic and in patients with type 2 DM (79.37%, respectively 81.82%). : COVID-19 pandemic determined a drastic decrease, with around 75% reduction of all procedures of new intra-cardiac devices implantation, both in non-diabetics, this activity being reserved mostly for emergencies.