The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Non-COVID-19 Deaths: Population-Wide Retrospective Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Health care avoidance in the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely reported. Yet few studies have investigated the dynamics of hospital avoidance behavior during pandemic waves and inferred its impact on excess non-COVID-19 deaths.

Objective

This study aimed to measure the impact of hospital avoidance on excess non-COVID-19 deaths in public hospitals in Hong Kong.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study involving 11,966,786 patients examined between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2021, in Hong Kong. All data were linked to service, treatment, and outcomes. To estimate excess mortality, the 2-stage least squares method was used with daily tallies of emergency department (ED) visits and 28-day mortality. Records for older people were categorized by long-

SUBMITTER: Wai AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10866203 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature