biostudies-literatureUnknown23(1)Schranz MRobert Koch-Institut<h4>Background</h4>During the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health and social measures, decreasing patient numbers have been described in various healthcare settings in Germany, including emergency care. This could be explained by changes in disease burden, e.g. due to contact restrictions, but could also be a result of changes in utilisation behaviour of the population. To better understand those dynamics, we analysed routine data from emergency departments to quantify changes in consultation numbers, age distribution, disease acuity and day and hour of the day during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.<h4>Methods</h4>We used interrupted time series analyses to estimate relative changes for consultation numbers of 20 emergency departments spread throughout Germany. For thBMC public health799https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10152015biostudies-literatureChanges in emergency department utilisation in Germany before and during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from a national surveillance system up to June 2021.PMC10152015Greiner TPeschel TAKTIN-Research GroupDormann HBoender TSUllrich ASchirrmeister WTriefenbach LHoeger-Schmidt HHofmann TLucas BUllrich GKombeiz ABienzeisler JGrashey RDiercke MRohrig RHabbinga KOtto RMach CMajeed RSchilling TBrokmann JWolfrum SErdmann BWagner BGrupp CWenderoth HHenke TAigner ABlaschke SKlein MWrede CKocher TEsslinger KGreiner FWetzel EWalcher FSchunk DWehler MGrabenhenrich LHorn OBaacke MDrynda SSchranz MfalseChanges in emergency department utilisation in Germany before and during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from a national surveillance system up to June 2021.<h4>Background</h4>During the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health and social measures, decreasing patient numbers have been described in various healthcare settings in Germany, including emergency care. This could be explained by changes in disease burden, e.g. due to contact restrictions, but could also be a result of changes in utilisation behaviour of the population. To better understand those dynamics, we analysed routine data from emergency departments to quantify changes in consultation numbers, age distribution, disease acuity and day and hour of the day during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.<h4>Methods</h4>We used interrupted time series analyses to estimate relative changes for consultation numbers of 20 emergency departments spread throughout Germany. For th2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 May2025-04-22T18:25:48.253Z2025-04-06T02:26:42.855ZS-EPMC101520153713116510.1186/s12889-023-15375-7