Significant reduction in the visits to the emergency room department during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary hospital in Greece: Indirect victims of the pandemic?
Significant reduction in the visits to the emergency room department during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary hospital in Greece: Indirect victims of the pandemic?
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DOI：
10.1097/md.0000000000023845
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发表时间：
2020-12-24
期刊：
影响因子：
1.6
通讯作者：
Dimopoulos MA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Kastritis E;Tsitsimpis K;Anninos E;Stamatelopoulos K;Kanakakis I;Lampropoulos C;Chatzidou S;Michopoulos S;Papamichail C;Kostis E;Manios E;Kontogiannis S;Paraskevaidis I;Terpos E;Mitrakou A;Dimopoulos MA
2019冠状病毒病大流行引发了一场重大危机，影响和紧张的医疗保健系统，包括一些非常先进的系统。疫情还可能间接影响了患有其他疾病（与COVID-19无关）的患者获得医疗保健的机会，即使是在没有被疫情淹没的国家。我们分析并比较了2019年和2020年同一日历期间（每年3月1日至3月31日）我们医院急诊室（ER）部门的就诊情况，我们医院是一家中型三级中心，位于雅典市中心，不是COVID-19的转诊中心。急诊室就诊总数减少了42.3%，需要住院的人数减少了34.8%。这一减少是由于低风险、非特异性症状和原因的就诊次数减少。然而，心血管症状和并发症（心源性胸痛、急性冠状动脉综合征和卒中）的入院率显著下降了39.7%，疑似或确诊的胃肠道出血的入院率下降了54.7%。重要的是，因感染而就诊的急诊室数量以及需要住院进行感染管理的患者数量保持不变;只有少数患者被诊断患有COVID-19。于疫情爆发及希腊封锁初期，到急诊室就诊的病人大幅减少，包括因心血管症状及并发症入院的人数减少。这些观察结果可能对大流行期间非COVID-19疾病的管理产生影响。
COVID-19 pandemic caused a major crisis, affecting and straining health care systems, including some very advanced ones. The pandemic may have also indirectly affected access to health care for patients with other conditions, not related to COVID-19, even in countries not overwhelmed by an outbreak. We analyzed and compared visits to the emergency room (ER) department during the same calendar period of 2019 and 2020 (from March 1 to March 31 of each year) in our hospital, a medium size, tertiary center, located in the center of Athens, which is not a referral center for COVID-19. Total ER visits were reduced by 42.3% and the number of those requiring hospitalization by 34.8%. This reduction was driven by lower numbers of visits for low risk, non-specific symptoms and causes. However, there was a significant decrease in admissions for cardiovascular symptoms and complications (chest pain of cardiac origin, acute coronary syndromes, and stroke) by 39.7% and for suspected or confirmed GI hemorrhage by 54.7%. Importantly, number of ER visits for infections remained unchanged, as well as the number of patients that required hospitalization for infection management; only few patients were diagnosed with COVID-19. During the initial period of the pandemic and lock-down in Greece, there was a major decrease in the patients visiting ER department, including decrease in the numbers of admissions for cardiovascular symptoms and complications. These observations may have implications for the management of non-COVID-19 diseases during the pandemic.