Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40022266›Full record

ArticleTropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines2025

Impact of COVID-19 on a medium-sized travel medicine clinic in eastern Pennsylvania, USA.

Pravallika Palwai, Marcelo Gareca, Sowmya R Rao, Mark C Knouse

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Tropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Pravallika PalwaiDepartment of Healthcare Management and Policy, School of Health, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Marcelo GarecaDivision of Infectious Diseases, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA, USA.
Sowmya R RaoDepartment of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston Massachusetts, USA.
Mark C KnouseDivision of Infectious Diseases, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA, USA. mark.knouse@lvhn.org.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic (COVID) disrupted international travel. We sought to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patient volume, traveler demographics, and income of our medium-sized travel clinic in Pennsylvania, USA.

methodsWe extracted de-identified pre-travel data on 3,510 pre-travel consultations for adults during: Pre-COVID-19 (January 2018-December 2019), Early COVID-19 (April 2020-March 2022) and Late COVID-19 (April 2022-March 2023). We compared traveler demographics, destinations, purpose of travel, medical conditions, and number of vaccinations administered over time, and our clinic's revenue obtained from our financial database (TruSource) for the Pre, Early and Late COVID-19 periods.

resultsWe observed 84% and 85% relative decreases in traveler volume and revenue respectively from the Pre-COVID-19 to the Early COVID-19 period. The decrease (16-11%) in volume was highest for travelers over 65 years of age. Of those that sought care during Early COVID-19, a fewer proportion of travelers had multiple co-morbid conditions and were taking chronic medications. Trip length increased and there was a significant increase in travel to Africa. Travel to visit friends or family and for service work also increased during Early-COVID-19 (32.9%) versus Pre-COVID-19 (19.8%). Clinic volume and revenue began to increase in Late COVID-19 but did not return to Pre-COVID levels.

conclusionsThe COVID pandemic resulted in a large reduction in patient volume and revenue in our academic-based Pennsylvania travel clinic. We saw substantial changes in our traveler demographics, destinations, as well as reasons and durations of travel. Smaller travel clinics will need to have plans in place in order to survive the next pandemic and better serve their pre-travel populations.

Identifiers

PMID40022266
PMCPMC11871799

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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.