Co-Clinical Leader, Intensive Care Unit, Wellington Hospital, Wellington; Deputy Director, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, Wellington.
Intensive Care Registrar, John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
N Z Med J. 2020 Dec 18;133(1527):95-103.
To evaluate rates of unplanned ICU admissions before, during and after New Zealand's COVID-19 Alert Level 4/3 lockdown, and to describe the characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted to Wellington ICU during lockdown in comparison to historical controls.
We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Wellington Hospital ICU database and included patients with an unplanned ICU admission during the first 35 weeks of the year from 2015 to 2020 inclusive. The primary variable of interest was the rate of unplanned ICU admission in 2020 compared with historical controls. We also described the characteristics and outcomes of patients with unplanned admissions to ICU during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown compared to historical controls.
During the five weeks of Alert Level Four, and the subsequent two weeks of Alert Level Three, the number of unplanned ICU admissions per day fell to 1.65±1.52 compared to a historical average of 2.56±1.52 ICU unplanned ICU admissions per day (P<0.0001). The observed reduction in ICU admission rates appeared to occur for most categories of ICU admission diagnosis but was not evident for patients with neurologic disorders. The characteristics and outcomes of patients who had unplanned admissions to Wellington ICU during the COVID-19 lockdown were broadly similar to historical controls. The rate of unplanned ICU admissions in 2020 before and after the lockdown period were similar to historical controls.
In this study, we observed a reduction in unplanned admissions to Wellington Hospital ICU associated with New Zealand's initial COVID-19 lockdown.
评估新西兰 COVID-19 警戒级别 4/3 封锁前后 ICU 非计划性入院率，并描述与历史对照相比，封锁期间惠灵顿 ICU 收治患者的特征和结局。
我们使用惠灵顿医院 ICU 数据库进行了回顾性队列研究，纳入了 2015 年至 2020 年期间每年前 35 周内 ICU 非计划性入院的患者。主要观察变量为 2020 年 ICU 非计划性入院率与历史对照的比较。我们还描述了与历史对照相比，封锁期间 ICU 非计划性入院患者的特征和结局。
在四级警戒的五周时间内，以及随后的三级警戒的两周时间内，每天 ICU 非计划性入院人数降至 1.65±1.52，而历史平均水平为 2.56±1.52 ICU 非计划性入院（P<0.0001）。观察到的 ICU 入院率下降似乎发生在大多数 ICU 入院诊断类别中，但对于神经障碍患者则不明显。在 COVID-19 封锁期间，惠灵顿 ICU 非计划性入院患者的特征和结局与历史对照大致相似。封锁前后 2020 年 ICU 非计划性入院率与历史对照相似。
在这项研究中，我们观察到新西兰 COVID-19 首次封锁与惠灵顿医院 ICU 非计划性入院减少相关。
