Decreased hospital admissions through emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Am J Emerg Med
; 42: 203-210, 2021 Apr.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33279331
ABSTRACT
STUDY OBJECTIVE:
Emergency Department (ED) visits decreased significantly in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. A troubling proportion of this decrease was among patients who typically would have been admitted to the hospital, suggesting substantial deferment of care. We sought to describe and characterize the impact of COVID-19 on hospital admissions through EDs, with a specific focus on diagnosis group, age, gender, and insurance coverage.METHODS:
We conducted a retrospective, observational study of aggregated third-party, anonymized ED patient data. This data included 501,369 patient visits from twelve EDs in Massachusetts from 1/1/2019-9/9/2019, and 1/1/2020-9/8/2020. We analyzed the total arrivals and hospital admissions and calculated confidence intervals for the change in admissions for each characteristic. We then developed a Poisson regression model to estimate the relative contribution of each characteristic to the decrease in admissions after the statewide lockdown, corresponding to weeks 11 through 36 (3/11/2020-9/8/2020).RESULTS:
We observed a 32% decrease in admissions during weeks 11 to 36 in 2020, with significant decreases in admissions for chronic respiratory conditions and non-orthopedic needs. Decreases were particularly acute among women and children, as well as patients with Medicare or without insurance. The most common diagnosis during this time was SARS-CoV-2.CONCLUSION:
Our findings demonstrate decreased hospital admissions through EDs during the pandemic and suggest that several patient populations may have deferred necessary care. Further research is needed to determine the clinical and operational consequences of this delay.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
4_TD
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Admissão do Paciente
/
Serviço Hospitalar de Emergência
/
COVID-19
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
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Aged
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Aged80
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Child
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Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Emerg Med
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article