An Analysis of Changes in Emergency Department Visits After a State Declaration During the Time of COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Study objective

In the initial period of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been a substantial decrease in the number of patients seeking care in the emergency department. A first step in estimating the impact of these changes is to characterize the patients, visits, and diagnoses for whom care is being delayed or deferred.

Methods

We conducted an observational study, examining demographics, visit characteristics, and diagnoses for all ED patient visits to an urban level 1 trauma center before and after a state emergency declaration and comparing them with a similar period in 2019. We estimated percent change on the basis of the ratios of before and after periods with respect to 2019 and the decline per week using Poisson regression. Finally, we eval

SUBMITTER: Westgard BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7287464 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature