Changes in Emergency Department Visits, Diagnostic Groups, and 28-Day Mortality Associated With the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Territory-Wide, Retrospective, Cohort Study
| Autor: | Janet Yuen Ha Wong, Xi Xiong, Matthew Sik Hon Tsui, Abraham K.C. Wai, Owen C. K. Chu, Carlos K. H. Wong, Man Sing Wong, Timothy H. Rainer |
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| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Adolescent Health Services Accessibility Cohort Studies Young Adult Lower respiratory tract infection Pandemic Humans Medicine Mortality Noncommunicable Diseases Pandemics Aged Retrospective Studies SARS-CoV-2 business.industry COVID-19 Retrospective cohort study Odds ratio Emergency department Middle Aged medicine.disease Triage Confidence interval Emergency medicine Emergency Medicine Hong Kong Female Emergency Service Hospital business Facilities and Services Utilization Cohort study |
| Zdroj: | Annals of Emergency Medicine. 79:148-157 |
| ISSN: | 0196-0644 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.09.424 |
| Popis: | Study objective We aimed to evaluate and characterize the scale and relationships of emergency department (ED) visits and excess mortality associated with the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the territory of Hong Kong. Methods We conducted a territory-wide, retrospective cohort study to compare ED visits and the related impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality. All ED visits at 18 public acute hospitals in Hong Kong between January 1 and August 31 of 2019 (n=1,426,259) and 2020 (n=1,035,562) were included. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality in the 28 days following an ED visit. The secondary outcomes were weekly number of ED visits and diagnosis-specific mortality. Results ED visits decreased by 27.4%, from 1,426,259 in 2019 to 1,035,562 in 2020. Overall period mortality increased from 28,686 (2.0%) in 2019 to 29,737 (2.9%) in 2020. The adjusted odds ratio for 28-day, all-cause mortality in the pandemic period of 2020 relative to 2019 was 1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.24 to 1.28). Both sexes, age more than 45 years, all triage categories, all social classes, all ED visit periods, epilepsy (odds ratio 1.58, 95% confidence interval 1.20 to 2.07), lower respiratory tract infection, and airway disease had higher adjusted ORs for all-cause mortality. Conclusion A significant reduction in ED visits in the first 8 months of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increase in deaths certified in the ED. The government must make provisions to encourage patients with alarming symptoms, mental health conditions, and comorbidities to seek timely emergency care, regardless of the pandemic. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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