ArticleWorld journal of emergency surgery : WJES2021
The negative effects of COVID-19 and national lockdown on emergency surgery morbidity due to delayed access.
Article in World journal of emergency surgery : WJES, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Short Delays in Time to First Contact With Community Health Services and Risk of Emergency Hospital Attendance: Retrospective Observational Study.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Observational
- Interpreting Abdominal Surgical-Site Infection Trends Across the COVID-19 Shock: A Critical Narrative Review and the SSI Signal-Validity Framework.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on urgent gastrointestinal surgery outcomes: increased mortality in 2020.World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2025Article
- Influence of SARS-CoV2 Pandemic on Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis, Presentation, and Surgical Management in a Tertiary Center: A Retrospective Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Shifts in Paediatric Road Trauma Dynamics Pre- vs. Post-COVID-19 Lockdown: Insights from a Major Trauma Centre.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2024Article
- Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on short-term postoperative outcomes of emergency surgery for gastroduodenal perforation: A nationwide study in Japan based on the National Clinical Database.Annals of gastroenterological surgery · 2024Article
- Consequences of delaying non-urgent surgeries during COVID-19: a population-based retrospective cohort study in Alberta, Canada.BMJ open · 2024Article
- A Change in Nosocomial Infections among Surgical ICU Patients in the COVID-19 Era and MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry-A Cross-Sectional Study.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on short-term postoperative outcomes for colorectal perforation: A nationwide study in Japan based on the National Clinical Database.Annals of gastroenterological surgery · 2024Article
- The Impact on Survival of Neoadjuvant Treatment Interruptions in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer Patients.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Article
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Reconstructive Surgery and Training Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross-Sectional Survey.World journal of plastic surgery · 2024Article
- Article
- Obstetric and Gynecological Admissions and Hospitalizations in an Italian Tertiary-Care Hospital during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Analysis According to Restrictive Measures.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Readmissions after emergent incisional ventral hernia repair: a retrospective review of the nationwide readmissions database.Updates in surgery · 2023Article
- Article
- The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Department (ED) Admissions in the Only Hospital of City Center ED.Cureus · 2023Article
- Management of patients at the hepatopancreatobiliary unit of a London teaching hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Trends in gastrointestinal disease hospitalizations and outcomes during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.World journal of gastroenterology · 2023Article
- Clinical significance of acute care surgery system as a part of hospital medical emergency team for hospitalized patients.Annals of surgical treatment and research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe aim of this retrospective comparative study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 and delayed emergency department access on emergency surgery outcomes, by comparing the main clinical outcomes in the period March-May 2019 (group 1) with the same period during the national COVID-19 lockdown in Italy (March-May 2020, group 2).
methodsA comparison (groups 1 versus 2) and subgroup analysis were performed between patients' demographic, medical history, surgical, clinical and management characteristics.
resultsTwo-hundred forty-six patients were included, 137 in group 1 and 109 in group 2 (p = 0.03). No significant differences were observed in the peri-operative characteristics of the two groups. A declared delay in access to hospital and preoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rates were 15.5% and 5.8%, respectively in group 2. The overall morbidity (OR = 2.22, 95% CI 1.08-4.55, p = 0.03) and 30-day mortality (OR = 1.34, 95% CI 0.33-5.50, =0.68) were significantly higher in group 2. The delayed access cohort showed a close correlation with increased morbidity (OR = 3.19, 95% CI 0.89-11.44, p = 0.07), blood transfusion (OR = 5.13, 95% CI 1.05-25.15, p = 0.04) and 30-day mortality risk (OR = 8.00, 95% CI 1.01-63.23, p = 0.05). SARS-CoV-2-positive patients had higher risk of blood transfusion (20% vs 7.8%, p = 0.37) and ICU admissions (20% vs 2.6%, p = 0.17) and a longer median LOS (9 days vs 4 days, p = 0.11).
conclusionsThis article provides enhanced understanding of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient access to emergency surgical care. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 changed the quality of surgical care with poorer prognosis and higher morbidity rates. Delayed emergency department access and a "filter effect" induced by a fear of COVID-19 infection in the population resulted in only the most severe cases reaching the emergency department in time.
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