ArticleEmergency radiology2023
Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department utilization of computed tomography scans of appendicitis and diverticulitis.
Article in Emergency radiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pattern of acute appendicitis, a single-center study.Frontiers in surgery · 2026Article
- Time to improve the management of patients with suspected acute appendicitis: a retrospective study.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2024Article
- Diverticulitis patient care during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany-a retrospective nationwide population-based cohort study.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeInvestigating the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on adult patient visits, computed tomography (CT) abdominal scans, and presentations of appendicitis and diverticulitis, to emergency departments (ED) in St. John's NL.
methodsA retrospective quantitative analysis was applied, using ED visits and Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) scores. mPower (Nuance Communications, UK) identified CT abdominal scan reports, which were categorized into (1) normal/other, (2) appendicitis, or (3) diverticulitis. Time intervals included pre-lockdown (January-February), lockdown (March-June), and post-lockdown (July-August). Data from 2018 to 2019 (January-August) were used to generate expected patient volumes for 2020, and pre- and post-lockdown were included to control for other variables outside the lockdown.
resultsChi-squared goodness of fit tested for deviations from predicted means for 2018-2019. Compared to expectations, daily ED visits from January to August 2020 showed a significant (p < 0.001) decrease in patient volumes independent of gender, age, and CTAS scores. During and post-lockdown, CT abdominal scans did not drop in proportion to patient volume. Appendicitis presentations remained indifferent to lockdown, while diverticulitis presentations appeared to wane, with no difference in combined complicated cases in comparison to what was expected.
conclusionDuring lockdown, significantly fewer patients presented to the ED. The proportion of ordered CT abdominal scans increased significantly per person seen, without change in CTAS scores. Considering combined pathology cases increased during the lockdown, ED physicians were warranted in increasing abdominal imaging as patients did not avoid the ED. This may have resulted from a change in clinical practice where the uncertainty of COVID-19 increased CT scan usage.
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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.