ArticleBMC emergency medicine2021
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on trauma-related emergency medical service calls: a retrospective cohort study.
Article in BMC emergency medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Orthopaedic, trauma surgery, and Covid-2019 pandemic: clinical panorama and future prospective in Europe.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2022Pooled it
- 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
- Paramedics' experiences and observations: work-related emotions and well-being resources during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic-a qualitative study.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the dynamic of patients with oral and maxillofacial trauma: interrupted time-series analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- 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
- Not only COVID-19 disease impacts ambulance emergency demands but also lockdowns and quarantines.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Article
- The system-wide effects of dispatch, response and operational performance on emergency medical services during Covid-19.Humanities & social sciences communications · 2022Article
- Emergency Medical Services Prehospital Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US: A Brief Literature Review.Open access emergency medicine : OAEM · 2022Review
- Correction to: Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on trauma-related emergency medical service calls: a retrospective cohort study.BMC emergency medicine · 2021Article
- Influence of coronavirus disease 2019 case surges on prehospital emergency medical service for patients with trauma in Kobe, Japan.Acute medicine & surgeryArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on the utilization of health care services, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Social distancing measures taken to prevent the spread of the disease have greatly affected the functioning of societies and reduced or halted many activities with a risk of injury. The aim of this study was to report the effects of lockdown measures on trauma-related EMS calls in the Finnish capital area.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of all EMS calls in the Helsinki University Hospital (HUH) catchment area between 1 January and 31 July 2020. Calls were identified from the HUH EMS database. Calls were grouped into pre-lockdown, lockdown, and post-lockdown periods according to the restrictions set by the Finnish government and compared to the mean number of calls for the corresponding periods in 2018 and 2019. Statistical comparisons were performed using Mann-Whitney U-test for weekly numbers and percentages.
resultsDuring the study period there was a total of 70,705 EMS calls, of which 14,998 (21.2%) were related to trauma; 67,973 patients (median age 61.6 years; IQR 35.3-78.6) were met by EMS. There was no significant change in the weekly number of total or trauma-related EMS calls during the pre-lockdown period. During the lockdown period, the number of weekly total EMS calls was reduced by 12.2% (p = 0.001) and the number of trauma-related calls was reduced by 23.3% (p = 0.004). The weekly number of injured patients met by EMS while intoxicated with alcohol was reduced by 41.8% (p = 0.002). During the post-lockdown period, the number of total and trauma-related calls and the number of injured patients intoxicated by alcohol returned to previous years' levels.
conclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures reduced the number of trauma-related EMS calls. Lockdown measures had an especially significant effect on the number of injured patients intoxicated by alcohol met by the EMS.
trial registrationNot applicable.
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