Clinic of General, Special Care, and Geriatric Dentistry, Center of Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Center for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Gerodontology. 2021 Jun;38(2):174-178. doi: 10.1111/ger.12509. Epub 2020 Nov 10.
To evaluate the impacts of restrictions to the provision of dental services for dependent older patients due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data were gathered on the number of dependent older patients treated, emergency treatment provided and the revenues generated by a specialised clinic for geriatric dentistry during the current pandemic period and compared with the recorded clinical activity from the preceding year. Hypothetical projections were generated for the remainder of the current year based on the assumption that restrictions due to COVID-19 would remain.
A significant decrease in the total number of dependent older patients treated was recorded during the periods of January-March 2020 (P = .026) and April-May 2020 (P = .001) when compared to 2019. According to projections, by December 2020 the clinic will be providing 81.14% less clinical activity compared to 2019 (P < .0001), including a complete cessation of domiciliary services. Despite decreases in expenditure, revenues generated by the clinic have decreased significantly due to reduced clinical activity during January-March 2020 (P = .268) and April-May 2020 (P = .010) compared to 2019, and would decline further by 899.61% by December 2020.
The restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in a significant reduction in oral healthcare provision for dependent older adults. Within this clinic, dedicated to dependent older adults, clinical activity is projected to reduce by 81% by the end of 2020 with associated reductions in revenue generation. Given the importance of oral healthcare delivery for this patient group, this may have significant and lasting impacts.
评估因 COVID-19 大流行而对老年依赖患者提供牙科服务的限制所产生的影响。
收集了一家老年牙科专科诊所治疗老年依赖患者的数量、提供的急诊治疗以及产生的收入的数据，将其与前一年的记录临床活动进行比较。根据假设 COVID-19 限制将持续存在的情况，对本年度剩余时间进行了假设预测。
与 2019 年相比，2020 年 1 月至 3 月（P=0.026）和 4 月至 5 月（P=0.001）期间，治疗的老年依赖患者总数显著减少。根据预测，到 2020 年 12 月，该诊所的临床活动将比 2019 年减少 81.14%（P<0.0001），包括完全停止上门服务。尽管支出有所减少，但由于 2020 年 1 月至 3 月（P=0.268）和 4 月至 5 月（P=0.010）期间临床活动减少，诊所的收入显著下降，到 2020 年 12 月，收入将进一步下降 899.61%。
为防止 COVID-19 传播而实施的限制措施，导致为老年依赖患者提供的口腔保健服务显著减少。在这家专门为老年依赖患者服务的诊所中，预计到 2020 年底，临床活动将减少 81%，收入也将随之减少。鉴于该患者群体口腔保健服务的重要性，这可能会产生重大且持久的影响。
