Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37397955›Full record

ArticleClinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.)2023

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Wait-Times for Ophthalmic Surgery in Ontario, Canada: A Population-Based Study.

Michael Balas, Diana Vasiliu, Gener Austria, Tina Felfeli

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Michael BalasTemerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-5948-0331
Diana VasiliuHealth System Intelligence Team, Health System Performance & Support Portfolio, Ontario Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Gener AustriaHealth System Intelligence Team, Health System Performance & Support Portfolio, Ontario Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Tina FelfeliDepartment of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-0927-3086

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on case volumes and wait-times for ophthalmic surgery in Ontario, Canada. Design: Population-based retrospective cohort study. Participants: Patients undergoing ophthalmic surgery in Ontario, Canada, from 2010 to 2021, collected from the Ontario Health Wait Times Information System (WTIS) database. Methods: The WTIS contains non-emergent surgical case volume and wait-time data for six ophthalmic subspecialty surgery types, three priority levels (low, medium, high) and 14 different regions in Ontario. Case volume and wait-times were compared between the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) and the preceding time period (2010-2019) across all stratifications. Results: There was a significant decrease in case volumes and significant increase in wait-times across geographic regions, priority levels, and subspecialty surgeries from the pre-pandemic to pandemic period. Moreover, COVID-19 exacerbated pre-existing wait-time disparities between sexes, with females waiting 4.1 days longer than males overall to receive surgery in 2010-2019 compared to waiting 8.8 days longer in 2020-2021 (117% increase). Conclusion: These findings highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmic surgical wait times in Ontario. Cataract, strabismus and oculoplastic surgeries, the Waterloo Wellington, Central, and South East regions of Ontario, and those with female sex had the greatest relative increases in wait-times during the pandemic.

Indexed as

ophthalmologysurgerywait time

Identifiers

PMID37397955
PMCPMC10312341

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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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.