ArticleSurgical endoscopy2022
Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on rates of emergency department utilization and hospital admission due to general surgery conditions.
Article in Surgical endoscopy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reflections on the implementation of an acute general surgical COVID-19 roster at North Shore Hospital, Auckland - a prospective observational study.ANZ journal of surgery · 2025Observational
- Incident prescriptions for common cardiovascular medications: comparison of recent versus pre-2020 medication adherence and discontinuation in three universal health care systems.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2025Article
- Article
- Acute care pathway assessed through performance indicators during the COVID-19 pandemic in OECD countries (2020-2021): a scoping review.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care for acute cholecystitis: a Swedish multicentre retrospective cohort study.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Virtual triage from freestanding emergency departments: a propensity score-weighted analysis of short-term outcomes in emergency general surgery.Surgical endoscopy · 2023Article
- The impact of partial and complete lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic on acute surgical services: a retrospective cohort study.European journal of medical research · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecent literature reports a decrease in healthcare-seeking behaviours by adults during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that emergency general surgery (GS) conditions are often associated with high morbidity and mortality if left untreated, the objective of this study was to describe and quantify the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on rates of emergency department (ED) utilization and hospital admission due to GS conditions.
methodsThis cohort study involved the analysis of an institutional database and retrospective chart review. We identified adult patients presenting to the ED in a network of three teaching hospitals in Montreal, Canada during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic (March13-May13, 2020) and a control pre-pandemic period (March13-May13, 2019). Patients with GS conditions were included in the analysis. ED utilization rates, admission rates and 30-day outcomes were compared between the two periods using multivariate regression analysis.
resultsDuring the pandemic period, 258 patients presented to ED with a GS diagnosis compared to 351 patients pre-pandemically (adjusted rate ratio (aRR) 0.75; p < 0.001). Rate of hospital admission during the pandemic was also significantly lower (aRR = 0.77, p < 0.001). Patients had a significantly shorter ED stay during the pandemic (adjusted mean difference 5.0 h; p < 0.001). Rates of operative management during the pandemic were preserved compared to the pre-pandemic period. There were no differences in 30-day complications (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.46; p = 0.07), ED revisits (aOR 1.10; p = 0.66) and (re)admissions (aOR 1.42; p = 0.22) between the two periods.
conclusionThere was a decrease in rates of ED utilization and hospital admissions due to GS conditions during the first wave of the Covid -19 pandemic; however, rates of operative management, complications and healthcare reutilization were unchanged. Although our findings are not generalizable to patients who did not seek healthcare, it was possible to successfully uphold institutional standards of care once patients presented to the ED.
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