Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Introduction
Influenza has been linked to the crowding in emergency departments (ED) across the world. The impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on China EDs has been quite different from those during past influenza outbreaks. Our objective was to determine if COVID-19 changed ED visit disease severity during the pandemic.Methods
This was a retrospective cross sectional study conducted in Nanjing, China. We captured ED visit data from 28 hospitals. We then compared visit numbers from October 2019 to February 2020 for a month-to-month analysis and every February from 2017 to 2020 for a year-to-year analysis. Inter-group chi-square test and time series trend tests were performed to compare visit numbers. The primary outcome was the proportion of severe disease visits in the EDs.Results
Through February 29 th 2020, there were 93 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients in Nanjing, of which 40 cases (43.01%) were first seen in the ED. The total number of ED visits in Nanjing in February 2020, were dramatically decreased (n = 99,949) in compared to January 2020 (n = 313,125) and February 2019 (n = 262,503). Except for poisoning, the severe diseases in EDs all decreased in absolute number, but increased in proportion both in year-to-year and month-to-month analyses. This increase in proportional ED disease severity was greater in higher-level referral hospitals when compared year by year.Conclusion
The COVID-19 outbreak has been associated with decreases in ED visits in Nanjing, China, but increases in the proportion of severe ED visits.
SUBMITTER: Sun H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7415345 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Sun Hao H Liu Keqin K Li Meng M Tang Shaowen S Monte Andrew A AA Wang Jun J Nie Shinan S Rui Qinglin Q Liu Wenge W Qin Haidong H Tan Xiao X Ni Haibin H Yang Wenxin W Zhu Congjian C Yang Runhua R Yu Tianhao T Wang Shengwei S Jiang Hao H Chen Xiaofeng X Zhang Wei W Zhu Yi Y Zhao Huatou H Yang Shiyu S Yin Kejin K Shao Danbing D Xiao Liang L Chen Zhengwei Z Yuan Weizhong W Hu Dongdong D Wan Xiaoyong X Wu Lanfu L Zhang Jinsong J
The American journal of emergency medicine 20200809 10
<h4>Introduction</h4>Influenza has been linked to the crowding in emergency departments (ED) across the world. The impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on China EDs has been quite different from those during past influenza outbreaks. Our objective was to determine if COVID-19 changed ED visit disease severity during the pandemic.<h4>Methods</h4>This was a retrospective cross sectional study conducted in Nanjing, China. We captured ED visit data from 28 hospitals. We then co ...[more]