Public health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emergency healthcare system.
emergency care
health services
public health
Journal
Journal of public health (Oxford, England)
ISSN: 1741-3850
Titre abrégé: J Public Health (Oxf)
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101188638
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
07 03 2022
07 03 2022
Historique:
received:
17
05
2021
revised:
17
05
2021
accepted:
04
06
2021
pubmed:
23
6
2021
medline:
15
3
2022
entrez:
22
6
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The Lombardy region has been the Italian region most affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. The emergency healthcare system was under deep stress throughout the past year due to the admission of COVID-19 patients to the emergency department (ED) and had to be thoroughly reorganized. We performed a retrospective descriptive analysis of patients admitted into the ED recorded in the Lombardy online regional portal called EUOL (Emergenza e Urgenza OnLine). We compared the data registered in the EUOL with the patients admitted to the EDs from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 and from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020. The number of admissions to the ED decreased by 32.5% in 2020 compared with 2019, reaching the lowest number in March and April. However, the percentage of patients hospitalized after ED significantly increased in 2020 compared with 2019 (P < 0.0001), reflecting the management of patients with a more severe clinical condition. More patients arrived at the ED by ambulance in 2020 (21.7% in 2020 versus 15.1% in 2019; P < 0.0001), particularly during March and April. This analysis showed the importance of monitoring the pandemic's evolution in order to treat more critically ill patients, despite a lower number of patients.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
The Lombardy region has been the Italian region most affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. The emergency healthcare system was under deep stress throughout the past year due to the admission of COVID-19 patients to the emergency department (ED) and had to be thoroughly reorganized.
METHODS
We performed a retrospective descriptive analysis of patients admitted into the ED recorded in the Lombardy online regional portal called EUOL (Emergenza e Urgenza OnLine). We compared the data registered in the EUOL with the patients admitted to the EDs from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 and from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020.
RESULTS
The number of admissions to the ED decreased by 32.5% in 2020 compared with 2019, reaching the lowest number in March and April. However, the percentage of patients hospitalized after ED significantly increased in 2020 compared with 2019 (P < 0.0001), reflecting the management of patients with a more severe clinical condition. More patients arrived at the ED by ambulance in 2020 (21.7% in 2020 versus 15.1% in 2019; P < 0.0001), particularly during March and April.
CONCLUSIONS
This analysis showed the importance of monitoring the pandemic's evolution in order to treat more critically ill patients, despite a lower number of patients.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34156071
pii: 6307495
doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdab212
pmc: PMC8344573
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e149-e152Informations de copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.