Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, George Regional Hospital, Western Cape Department of Health, George.
Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2021 Feb 15;13(1):e1-e3. doi: 10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2750.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread throughout the world, with devastating effects of the virus as well as the repercussions of the resulting 'lockdowns'. South Africa went into a national lockdown in March 2020 to mitigate the impact of the virus. This included a ban on the sales of tobacco and electronic cigarette products. The ban has been a highly contentious issue in South Africa, discussed worldwide, which has drawn many criticisms. The prevalence rate of smoking in South Africa was around 21.5%, with the Western Cape province having a prevalence rate of 39%. We compared the number of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) presentations at a large regional referral hospital in the Western Cape province from January to August 2019 with the same period in 2020. Electronic emergency centre data showed a reduction of 69.28% in COPD presentations. To control for some confounders for the same period, we also reviewed patients presenting with urinary tract infections, which showed only a 30.60% reduction. This notable reduction in COPD presentations reduced service pressure of emergency centre and most likely benefitted patients' health. Further research and policies are needed to ensure ongoing reduction in the prevalence of smoking.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行在全球范围内蔓延，给人们带来了病毒的毁灭性影响，以及由此导致的“封锁”的影响。南非于 2020 年 3 月进入全国封锁状态，以减轻病毒的影响。这包括禁止销售烟草和电子烟产品。该禁令在南非是一个极具争议的问题，在全球范围内进行了讨论，引起了许多批评。南非的吸烟率约为 21.5%，西开普省的吸烟率为 39%。我们比较了 2019 年 1 月至 8 月西开普省一家大型地区转诊医院的慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）就诊人数与 2020 年同期的就诊人数。电子急救中心的数据显示，COPD 就诊人数减少了 69.28%。为了控制同期的一些混杂因素，我们还审查了尿路感染患者的就诊情况，发现仅减少了 30.60%。COPD 就诊人数的显著减少减轻了急救中心的服务压力，很可能使患者受益。需要进一步研究和制定政策，以确保持续减少吸烟率。
