ArticlePloS one2021
The impact of COVID-19 on hospital admissions and emergency department visits: A population-based study.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 207 citations in OpenAlex.
- Using Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions to Assess Primary Health Care Performance during Disasters: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review: the dimensions to evaluate health care performance and an implication during the pandemic.BMC health services research · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- Association of experiencing homelessness with hospital utilization and medical bills among people who have injected drugs: A community-based cohort and data linkage study.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Paid and unpaid productivity losses across 28 European countries due to excess deaths and COVID-19 deaths from 2020 to 2023.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2026Article
- Healthcare Cost Associated with an Acute Mental Healthcare Bundle in Pediatric Emergency Departments.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2026Article
- Protection or constraint? A phenomenological study of the learning experience among doctors receiving postgraduate medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Comparison of Mental Illness Comorbidity Pre-Pandemic vs. Pandemic-Era and Associations with Clinical and Demographic Characteristics for Virginia Public Hospital Inpatient Discharges with a Substance Use Disorder.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Travel Distance and Its Impact on Wait Time for Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography in Patients with Cancers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Measuring the Association Between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Cancer Incidence by Sex Using a Quasi-Experimental Study Design.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2025Article
- Observational
- Trends in Avoidable Hospitalizations Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multiple Cross-Sectional Study Using Administrative Data From Beijing, China.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- Changes in Veterans Health Administration Emergency Department Visits During Two Years of COVID-19.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Article
- Missed or Delayed Diagnosis of Heart Disease by the General Pediatrician.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Treatment of Head and Neck Cancers.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Beyond death counts: how COVID-19 affected excess mortality and productive life-years lost across 28 European states, 2020-2023.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Hospitalization dynamics during COVID-19: Insights into disease trends and patient outcomes.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs a result of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there have been widespread changes in healthcare access. We conducted a retrospective population-based study in Alberta, Canada (population 4.4 million), where there have been approximately 1550 hospital admissions for COVID-19, to determine the impact of COVID-19 on hospital admissions and emergency department (ED visits), following initiation of a public health emergency act on March 15, 2020.
methodsWe used multivariable negative binomial regression models to compare daily numbers of medical/surgical hospital admissions via the ED between March 16-September 23, 2019 (pre COVID-19) and March 16-September 23, 2020 (post COVID-19 public health measures). We compared the most frequent diagnoses for hospital admissions pre/post COVID-19 public health measures. A similar analysis was completed for numbers of daily ED visits for any reason with a particular focus on ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC).
findingsThere was a significant reduction in both daily medical (incident rate ratio (IRR) 0.86, p<0.001) and surgical (IRR 0.82, p<0.001) admissions through the ED in Alberta post COVID-19 public health measures. There was a significant decline in daily ED visits (IRR 0.65, p<0.001) including ACSC (IRR 0.75, p<0.001). The most common medical/surgical diagnoses for hospital admissions did not vary substantially pre and post COVID-19 public health measures, though there was a significant reduction in admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a significant increase in admissions for mental and behavioral disorders due to use of alcohol.
conclusionsDespite a relatively low volume of COVID-19 hospital admissions in Alberta, there was an extensive impact on our healthcare system with fewer admissions to hospital and ED visits. This work generates hypotheses around causes for reduced hospital admissions and ED visits which warrant further investigation. As most publicly funded health systems struggle with health-system capacity routinely, understanding how these reductions can be safely sustained will be critical.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.