Indirect impact of violent events on emergency department utilization and disease patterns.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The health effects of war and armed conflict on casualties and mental health of those directly exposed has been well described, but few studies have explored the indirect health effects of violent events. This paper assesses the indirect health impact of several violent events that took place in Beirut in 2013-2014 on ED visit utilization and disease patterns.

Methods

As tracked by media reports, there were 9 violent events in Beirut during 2013-2014. We compared visits to the Emergency Department of a major medical center during weeks when violent events happened and weeks without such events (the preceding week and the same week in preceding years). After re-coding de-identified data from the medical records of 23,067 patients, we assessed differences in the vol

SUBMITTER: Makhlouf-Obermeyer C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7020587 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature