Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA.
Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, FL, USA; University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
Am J Emerg Med. 2020 Sep;38(9):1732-1736. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2020.06.007. Epub 2020 Jun 6.
COVID-19 pandemic effects are still being elucidated. Stay-at-home orders and social distancing compounded with COVID-19 concerns have caused significant disruptions in daily life. One notable effect of these variables may be a change in the number of emergency department (ED) visits. This study aims to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on ED visits, and possible reasons for changes.
Retrospective analysis using CDC data for ED visits and percentage of visits for COVID-19-Like Illness (CLI) and Influenza-Like Illness (ILI). Google Trends was used to assess COVID-19 public awareness. Motor vehicle collision (MVC) data was collected from cities, which reported current data. A descriptive statistical analysis and two-sample t-test was performed on ED visit data to assess for significance and a descriptive analysis was conducted to assess COVID-19's impact on MVCs.
The mean number of ED visits per week for the last four weeks of available data during the pandemic was significantly less than the four weeks prior to COVID-19 pandemic (p = 0.008). The ED visit decrease per week varied by region, with Region 1 having the greatest decrease (45%). MVCs decreased substantially across all cities studied, with New York City and Baton Rouge experiencing the greatest decrease (66%) during the pandemic.
A number of factors have likely contributed to the substantial decrease in ED visits observed in this study. In light of these findings, it is important to raise patient awareness regarding acute conditions that are deadlier than COVID-19 and require immediate medical intervention to ensure recovery.
COVID-19 大流行的影响仍在阐明之中。居家令和社交距离的实施，再加上对 COVID-19 的担忧，对日常生活造成了重大干扰。这些变量的一个显著影响可能是急诊科 (ED) 就诊人数的变化。本研究旨在调查 COVID-19 对 ED 就诊人数的影响，以及可能导致这种变化的原因。
使用 CDC 的 ED 就诊数据和 COVID-19 样疾病 (CLI) 和流感样疾病 (ILI) 的就诊百分比进行回顾性分析。使用谷歌趋势评估 COVID-19 的公众意识。从报告当前数据的城市收集机动车碰撞 (MVC) 数据。对 ED 就诊数据进行描述性统计分析和双样本 t 检验，以评估显著性，并对 COVID-19 对 MVC 的影响进行描述性分析。
在大流行期间可获得的最后四周的每周平均 ED 就诊次数明显少于 COVID-19 大流行前四周（p=0.008）。每周 ED 就诊次数的减少因地区而异，其中第 1 区减少幅度最大（45%）。在所研究的所有城市中，MVC 都大幅减少，纽约市和巴吞鲁日市在大流行期间减少幅度最大（66%）。
许多因素可能导致了本研究中观察到的 ED 就诊人数的大幅减少。鉴于这些发现，重要的是要提高患者对比 COVID-19 更致命且需要立即医疗干预以确保康复的急性疾病的认识。
