ArticleWorld neurosurgery2021
COVID-19 and Changes in Neurosurgical Workload in the United Kingdom.
Article in World neurosurgery, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ethical aspects of waiting lists in neurosurgery.Acta neurochirurgica · 2026Review
- Altering physician referral practices is challenging, but not impossible: spine assessment clinic quality improvement study.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Incidence and Observed Survival of Malignant Brain Tumors in Belgium.Cancers · 2023Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Postoperative Neurosurgical Infections at a Reference Center in México.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- A look at the global impact of COVID-19 pandemic on neurosurgical services and residency training.Scientific African · 2023Article
- Trends in Emergency Department Visits and Surgeries due to Traumatic Brain Injury During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland.SN comprehensive clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Temporal trends in neurosurgical volume and length of stay in a public healthcare system: A decade in review with a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.Surgical neurology international · 2023Article
- Referrals to Early Specialized Rehabilitation after Traumatic Brain Injury during the Covid-19 Pandemic.Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2022Article
- The changing pattern of acute spinal referrals during primary and secondary waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.Musculoskeletal care · 2022Article
- Analyzing historical and future acute neurosurgical demand using an AI-enabled predictive dashboard.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Trends in United States pediatric neurosurgical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia · 2022Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Traumatic Brain Injury Management: Lessons Learned Over the First Year.World neurosurgery · 2021Review
- Analysis of Neurosurgical Cases Before and During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic from a Tertiary-Care Centre in India.World neurosurgery · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCessation of elective procedures and lower bed capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a rise in the waiting lists for surgery, but it is unclear if workload has recovered sufficiently to account for this backlog. We describe the change in neurosurgical workload at a tertiary neurosciences center in the United Kingdom after the first pandemic wave in comparison with the months before and during the first wave.
methodsA retrospective review of theatre records and electronic referrals-between December 1, 2019, and August 31, 2020-was performed. The months of December 2019-February 2020 were designated as pre-COVID months and March-May 2020 were designated as COVID months. The time period from June to August 2020 was designated as post-wave months. Statistical analyses were performed on SPSS v22 (IBM).
resultsReferrals declined from 572 in January to a nadir of 352 in April before a steady rise to August. Referral volumes for degenerative spinal disease and traumatic brain injuries showed a statistically significant change during the year. On average, 212 procedures per month were performed in the pre-COVID months, 167 procedures per month during COVID months, and 232 procedures per month in the post-wave months. The number of patients on the waiting list for scheduled operations rose from March (785 patients) onward to a peak of 997 patients in July.
conclusionsIn the aftermath of COVID-19, higher referral volumes and operative procedures were apparent in the post-wave months as services returned to normal. With the expectation of a second wave of infections, it is unclear whether this will be sustainable.
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