Kaze Edeline, Vanderoost Jef, Sabbe Marc
Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2022 Jun 8:1-3. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2022.149.
This study aimed to describe the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on emergency department (ED) admissions for urgent diagnoses.
From January 1, 2019, until December 31, 2020, patients older than 18 years who attended the ED at University Hospital of Leuven (UZ Leuven, Belgium) were included. Urgent diagnoses selected in the First Hour Quintet were collected. The periods of the pandemic waves in 2020 were analyzed and compared with the same time period in 2019.
During the first wave of the pandemic, 16 075 patients attended the ED compared with 16 893 patients during the comparison period in 2019. The proportion of patients having one of the diagnoses of the First Hour Quintet was similar between the periods (4.4% vs 4.5%). During the second wave, 14 739 patients attended the ED compared with 18 704 patients during the same period in 2019; 5.6% of patients had a diagnosis of the First Hour Quintet compared with 4.3% of patients in the comparison period.
This study showed a decrease in the number of patients attending the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies are needed to determine for which conditions patients visited the ED less.
本研究旨在描述冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行对急诊科（ED）紧急诊断入院人数的影响。
纳入2019年1月1日至2020年12月31日期间在鲁汶大学医院（比利时鲁汶大学医院）急诊科就诊的18岁以上患者。收集“首小时五联症”中选择的紧急诊断信息。分析2020年大流行波期间，并与2019年同期进行比较。
在大流行的第一波期间，16075名患者前往急诊科就诊，而2019年同期为16893名患者。两个时期内患有“首小时五联症”之一诊断的患者比例相似（4.4%对4.5%）。在第二波期间，14739名患者前往急诊科就诊，而2019年同期为18704名患者；5.6%的患者被诊断为“首小时五联症”，而同期比较期为4.3%。
本研究显示，在COVID-19大流行期间，前往急诊科就诊的患者数量有所减少。需要进一步研究以确定患者因哪些病症减少了前往急诊科就诊。
