Observational studyBMJ open2020
Changes in demand for emergency ambulances during a nationwide lockdown that resulted in elimination of COVID-19: an observational study from New Zealand.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Observational
- Changes of public behavior alter weather-dependent strain on emergency medical services.World journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prehospital emergency medical service: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health and Life Emergencies Resulting from Illness Cases and Injuries-A Preliminary Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- [Impact of the 2020 lockdown on prehospital psychiatric emergencies in a large city].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2024Article
- What was the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on unintentional injuries, in Canada and globally? A scoping review investigating how lockdown measures impacted the global burden of unintentional injury.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on emergency medical services utilization and severity in the U.S. Upper Midwest.PloS one · 2024Article
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on asthma exacerbations in New Zealand: An interrupted time series analysis.The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global · 2023Article
- Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Services Utilization Amid COVID-19 in 2020: Descriptive Study Based on Routinely Collected Dispatch Data in Bavaria, Germany.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Mental Health Client Experiences of Telehealth in Aotearoa New Zealand During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons and Implications.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Increased ambulance attendances related to suicide and self-injury in response to the pandemic in Australia.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2023Article
- Consumption of Antibiotics in Primary Care Setting before and during COVID-19 Pandemic in Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown and Wellbeing: Experiences from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2020.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Quality of Health Services Provided by Emergency Medical Services and Emergency Departments in the Opinion of Patients: Pilot Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Changes in alcohol intoxication-related ambulance attendances during COVID-19: How have government announcements and policies affected ambulance call outs?The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2021Article
- Prehospital characteristics of COVID-19 patients in Helsinki - experience of the first wave of the pandemic.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the impact of a 5-week national lockdown on ambulance service demand during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.
designA descriptive cross-sectional, observational study.
settingHigh-quality data from ambulance electronic clinical records, New Zealand.
participantsAmbulance records were obtained from 588 690 attendances during pre-lockdown (prior to 17 February 2020) and from 36 238 records during the lockdown period (23 March to 26 April 2020).
main outcome measuresAmbulance service utilisation during lockdown was compared with pre-lockdown: (a) descriptive analyses of ambulance events and proportions of event types for each period, (b) absolute rates of ambulance attendance (event types/week) for each period.
resultsDuring lockdown, ambulance patients were more likely to be attended at home and less likely to be aged between 16 and 25 years. There was a significant increase in the proportion of lower acuity patients (Status 3 and Status 4) attended (p<0.001) and a corresponding increase in patients not transported from scene (p<0.001). Road traffic crashes (p<0.001) and alcohol-related incidents (p<0.001) significantly decreased. There was a decrease in the absolute number of weekly ambulance attendances (ratio (95% CI), 0.89 (0.87 to 0.91), p<0.001), attendances to respiratory conditions (0.74 (0.61 to 0.86), p=0.01), and trauma (0.81 (0.77 to 0.85), p<0.001). However, there was a significant increase in ambulance attendances for mental health conditions (1.37 (1.22 to 1.51), p=0.005).
conclusionsDespite the relative absence of COVID-19 in the community during the 5-week nationwide lockdown, there were significant differences in ambulance utilisation during this period. The lockdown was associated with an increase in ambulance attendances for mental health conditions and is of concern. In considering future lockdowns, the potential implications on a population's mental well-being will need to be seriously considered against the benefits of elimination of virus transmission.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.